Investigators are searching for answers after twin boys were found dead inside a car in a South Carolina daycare parking lot.
A little after 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, authorities responded to the Sunshine House Early Learning Academy on Wilson Boulevard in Blythewood, a suburb of Columbia, after reports of unresponsive children in a vehicle. Once first responders arrived, they found 20-month-old twin babies Bryson and Brayden McDaniel deceased. Both boys were attendees of the daycare center.
Richland County Coroner Nadia Rutherford believes that the children died from heat exposure after being left in the SUV for over nine hours, being placed in the vehicle between 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. An autopsy revealed no signs of trauma or abuse, but further tests are pending.
The situation took an interesting turn when it was revealed on Thursday during a press conference that the children were found in the family’s vehicle, which was left in the daycare’s parking lot not long before the tragic discovery.
“With the evidence that we have, we do not believe the Sunshine Academy staff was involved or is complicit in any way in the deaths of Bryson and Brayden McDaniel,” Rutherford said.
“We have two very distraught parents,” Rutherford said.
No criminal charges have been filed.
