A heartbroken mother has revealed her four-year-old twins tragically died after falling asleep in a wooden toy chest after the lid shut on them.
Aurora and her twin brother Kellan died on Friday night after being put to bed by their father Don Starr at their home in Florida, while their mother Sadie Myers worked nights so the pair could make childcare work between them without paying for babysitters.
The twins would reportedly often get up in the night and wake up in different places according to Myers, however, this led to tragic consequences.
The pair were found dead inside their wooden toy chest which had closed on top of them, leaving them stuck asleep in the airtight box.
Myers wrote on Facebook on Monday: "Friday night the weird place they decided to snuggle up and go back to sleep was in their cedar toy chest that we use to store all their stuffed animals.
"They pulled out all but a couple stuffed animals, I guess they left some to keep it comfy in there, then they laid inside head to toe with one arm each over their twin and I’m assuming said 'good night kell kell' and 'night night sissy'…
"Sometime during their sleep one of them must have moved or kicked during a dream and it caused the lid of this old wooden cedar chest to close…"
She added: "Something I did not know and I’m sure many others don’t know is that most wooden toy chests once closed are AIR TIGHT and also sound proof. So as they slept, all snuggled up together, they slowly ran out of oxygen within a couple of hours and passed away.
"They never even knew it was happening. There was no sudden gasp for air, it was a very slow transition from sleep to passing on."
Myers added that when she woke up for work the next day, her older children were already awake and playing so Starr went to check on the twins and panicked when he found they were not in their bed and couldn't see them in their room.
She explained: "Don went to check for them and this is when we realized something was wrong, so we ALL immediately started panicking, yelling for them, turning the house upside down, yelling up and down the street, then axton yelled 'Mommy I found them! They are so silly just sleeping in the toy box', so I ran in to check and within a few seconds I knew something wasn’t right, but I also quickly realized it was already too late…
"It makes no sense to me and never will… I hope knowing this helps in some way, and I hope if you have a toy box like this that you destroy it immediately!!! again, please keep me and my family in your hearts and prayers, because this will never get easier for us.. I love you all."
The twins received first aid from Sheriff's deputies who arrived at the Florida home but were unable to save the children.
A GoFundMe was set up to help the family in the wake of the tragedy and has so far reached over $23,000 in donations from an initial target of $10,000.
A service is set to be held for Kellan and Aurora on September 15, and Myers revealed in her post that the family would be undergoing therapy sessions together to overcome their tremendous loss.
Our thoughts remain with Kellan and Aurora's family and loved ones at this heartbreaking time.
Featured image credit: Getty Images