Investigation after Louisiana twins, 3, die in hot car
BOSSIER CITY, La. -- Police in Louisiana say 3-year-old twins have died after being found unresponsive in a pickup truck outside their home.
Autopsies will be conducted on the brother and sister, Oliver and Aria Orr.
Police said in a news release that the mother contacted neighbors Saturday to say she was looking for her children. They were found in the truck outside their home in Bossier City, and emergency workers were called.
Next-door neighbor Rhonda Matthews told CBS affiliate KSLA that she helped the twins' mother search for them.
"She just said that she had fell asleep and now the door was wide open and the babies were gone," Matthews said.
It is not known how long the children were missing. Aria was found in the front seat of the pickup truck and Oliver was in the back seat. Matthews said it looked like they had been sleeping.
Bossier City spokesman Mark Natale said no charges have been filed, but police are looking into the children's deaths.
"Detectives with (the) juvenile unit have been conducting an extensive investigation, trying to nail down the circumstances surrounding how these children ended up in the pickup truck," Natale said.
Investigators are trying to determine whether the children would have been able to open the door of the truck themselves. Natale was not able to say if the truck had been locked.
He did confirm that a step-stool was found next to the truck.
"I can tell you that this was not a case of the children traveling in the pickup truck and somebody just leaving them there and not getting them out," Natale said. "The pickup truck, as far as what detectives know now, was not used that day."
Natale also said that the autopsies revealed no signs of trauma on the children.
The children's father, who Natale said is a Bossier Parish Sheriff's deputy, was not home at the time.
The children were taken to a local hospital, Willis Knighton-Bossier Health Center, where they were pronounced dead.