AR - Clifton Kurk, 18 mos, dies in dishwasher, Romance, 30 May 2007

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Baby Found Dead In Dishwasher 'Tragic Accident'

A 13-year-old White County boy makes a shocking discovery. He finds his baby brother dead inside a running dishwasher. Detectives say right now they consider it a tragic accident, but they are still questioning family members.

It's being described by detectives as one of the worst death scenes in their careers.

Detectives say what they found inside the Romance mobile home on Snowbird Road was 18-month-old Clifton Kurk dead, covered in severe burns.

Clark says Kurk's mother was at work and his father asleep when his 13-year-old brother made the gruesome discovery.

Deputies believe the toddler had been inside the running dishwasher, set on high heat, for as long as 15 minutes, but no one is sure exactly how he got inside and closed the door.
 
Baby Found Dead In Dishwasher 'Tragic Accident'

A 13-year-old White County boy makes a shocking discovery. He finds his baby brother dead inside a running dishwasher. Detectives say right now they consider it a tragic accident, but they are still questioning family members.

It's being described by detectives as one of the worst death scenes in their careers.

Detectives say what they found inside the Romance mobile home on Snowbird Road was 18-month-old Clifton Kurk dead, covered in severe burns.

Clark says Kurk's mother was at work and his father asleep when his 13-year-old brother made the gruesome discovery.

Deputies believe the toddler had been inside the running dishwasher, set on high heat, for as long as 15 minutes, but no one is sure exactly how he got inside and closed the door.


Oh Dear Lord....how could this happen???
 
I think they need to take a very good look at the brother and dad. Every dishwasher I ever saw had to be completely closed from outside before it would run. No way that baby could have closed it from inside. Reminds me of the case a few years ago where a teenager put his little sister in a clothes dryer and turned it on.
 
OMG!!!!

Something doesn't sound right about this. How could the baby have closed the door. In order for most dishwasher's to run the lock has to be engaged. There is absolutely no way that the baby could have done that himself. Maybe whoever latched and turned on the dishwasher was unaware of him being inside. How horrible!!
 
Thats what Im thinking Sassy.......how would you not know there was an 18month baby in the dishwasher....the dishwasher would have had to be empty for the baby to fit in it
Am I the only one who usually checks to make sure everything is where it should be in the dishwasher before I turn it on.
As much as I hate to say it I think we will be hearing more about the 13year old who was proberly left to babysit while dad slept.
 
This is what another article says about the dishwasher:

The dishwasher was empty when the child got inside, police said. Investigators said the dishwasher was a Maytag model that automatically started when the door closed.

"The death of any child is tragic," said Monica Teague, a spokeswoman for Whirlpool Corp., which makes Maytag dishwashers.

Teague said Whirlpool's appliances are certified for child safety through an independent product testing corporation.

"All our appliances go through rigorous testing," Teague said.
 
Why would you want a dishwasher to start automatically when you shut the door...Maytag have a lot to answer for.
 
I'm having trouble understanding how an 18 month old would be able to pull the door closed. Don't dishwashers have to be locked with a latch type lock to start?

I recall drilling a parents choice lock designed for something else onto my dishwasher...... slide type.

So many accidents with kids getting out doors and getting into cars.
 
Why would you want a dishwasher to start automatically when you shut the door...Maytag have a lot to answer for.
Something not right here... I do not know of any dishwasher that just turns on...
 
I am thinking maybe the older brother put him in there as a joke maybe...and it just went too far. imo only
 
Hmm. It still seems fishy to me. I have seen dishwashers that don't have to be "latched", per se, but you have to really close the dishwasher for it to operate. It's not like you just close it. You have to close it until it latches on the inside and you hear a click. It's not like closing a cabinet door or something.

What a tragedy.
 
OMG!!!!

Something doesn't sound right about this. How could the baby have closed the door. In order for most dishwasher's to run the lock has to be engaged. There is absolutely no way that the baby could have done that himself. Maybe whoever latched and turned on the dishwasher was unaware of him being inside. How horrible!!


Kellee,
Yep, I agree. There's no way someone closed the door on the dishwasher without seeing the baby. Think about this: doesn't everyone look inside the dishwasher before starting it? I mean, it's almost an automatic impulse.
 
I would hate to put the blame on anybody if this was an accident but even if it started automatically when closing the door how would you be able to close it from the inside with force because you would have to pull that thing shut to lock?..I'm wondering why the brother opened it up like what made him want to look inside there? I dont know...sounds fishy but like I said hate to put the blame on anybody when something like this happens becuase it is so tragic and sad but really does make you wonder...:waitasec:
 
My problem with this - if the baby climbed into an empty dishwasher - toddlers at 18 months weight quite a few hefty pounds - that dishwasher door would have "warped" from the weight of him climbing over it open into the dishwasher.....then, he would have had to grap onto - what - the soap dish on the inside of the door? to pull it shut from the inside till it clicked.......
no way.
 
My problem with this - if the baby climbed into an empty dishwasher - toddlers at 18 months weight quite a few hefty pounds - that dishwasher door would have "warped" from the weight of him climbing over it open into the dishwasher.....then, he would have had to grap onto - what - the soap dish on the inside of the door? to pull it shut from the inside till it clicked.......
no way.

I have no idea what happened to this poor baby (but something does seem 'off'), but our 3yo is always getting busted for climbing atop the door of our dishwasher (standing on it to reach something) and our door hasn't been damaged (fingers crossed!). I guess if a little toddler did climb in they *could* pull on the soap dish lid to close the door, but that would take a lot of force.

Our dishwasher (2 years old) does not have a latch that needs to be pulled over in order to turn it on - but we do have to press a button for several seconds. I've never heard of a dishwasher than can be set to start as soon as you close the door (maybe older models?).

This reminds me of the little boy that fell down that sewer hole but I just couldn't believe he pulled that lid back over himself (though LE concluded that's exactly what happened).
 
How terrible for this baby!! What gets me is, I can't see anyone climbing into a dishwasher then closing the door because there's no way I can see them being comfortable enough, the racks have so many wires or whatever you want to call them sticking up to hold plates etc in place. Also IMO if a baby was inside and the washer started, the baby would have started to cry right away, I can't imagine the hell this little one had to go through. Something just does not smell right to me here!

VB
 

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