A heartbroken mother has opened up about the tragic loss of her twin babies.
Marissa Quattrone Rodriguez lost her one-year-old twins Luna and Phoenix in a tragic accident in July 2019, when her husband Juan accidentally left them in the car.
After forgetting to drop the twins at daycare, Juan drove to work in New York and left his car parked outside. During the day, the temperature in the vehicle rose to a deadly heat which tragically killed both babies.
In an interview with 7News, Marissa recalled the life-changing phone call she got from her husband when he realized what he had done.
"I missed his call. But I saw he left a message, which he never does, and then he called me again. Clearly, it was an emergency," she described.
"I answered that time to hear him repeatedly say: ‘My love, oh my God, my love... I killed the babies. He said the same thing over and over. And I just kept saying 'no, no, no. It’s not true'."
By the time Marissa reached her husband and his car, the street had been blocked off with caution tape, and officers at the scene would not let her come any closer. She looked on in horror as her husband was arrested and an ambulance carried her babies away.
The grieving mom recalled how "everything shattered" after that dreadful day. "I struggled with my desire to stay here on earth for a while," she admitted, adding that all she wanted to do was "crawl under a rock and disappear."
Meanwhile, Marissa and Juan's relationship started to fall apart. Although he avoided jail by pleading guilty to two counts of reckless endangerment (a judge ruled the case was a "tragic, unfortunate incident") Marissa struggled to remain supportive of him.
But after leaving home for a while with her four-year-old son, Marissa came to forgive and understand her husband.
"I know Juan would have never hurt our children intentionally," she explained. The two are still together today and spend much of their time campaigning for the implementation of a Hot Car Act in the US.
The legislation would require all new vehicles to be equipped with technology that detects if anyone is in the vehicle after the engine has been turned off.
According to the advocacy organization Kids and Car Safety, an average of 38 children die after being left in hot cars every year. 56% of those children are left in the car by accident.
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