GUILTY CO - Jasmine, 5, & Nathan Mendieta, 2, die in hot car, Castle Rock, 20 Aug 2008

hipmamajen

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Two children found dead in car

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=98025&catid=339

Today's high was 89 degrees, which could have made it hot enough. But it just seems odd that two kids, at least one of them old enough to open the door, would end up in someone else's car long enough for the heat to overcome BOTH of them. And were these the kids missing earlier, if so how did no one see them in a car parked on the street?

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From the article:


DOUGLAS COUNTY - Sheriff's deputies are investigating after two young children were found dead in a car on Wednesday afternoon.
...


A man on the scene, Ken VanHerpen, says the two children are his grandchildren. He says one is a 5-year-old girl named Jasmine and the other is a 2-year-old boy named Nathan.
...

The grandfather says he was not home at the time it happened and did not call 911. Investigators say they do not believe the community is in danger.
...

The sheriff's office says there was a report of two missing children earlier in the day.
 
Wow, hipmama, that's a real headscratcher. I have a million questions - namely, why weren't a 2 and 5 year old noticed missing in the time that it would take them to die in a car? Most 5 year olds and some 2 year olds can get out of a locked car, but maybe the older child was disoriented from heat and/or not familiar with the car. I just don't know, but it's heartbreaking.
 
omg how awful! I pray nothing sinister happend!
 
That is so sad.
This article has a little more info-
The grandfather says that his wife called him to say that they couldn't find the kids. The police were called because the kids were missing and right after they arrived someone found the kids in the car in front of the house, one on front seat and one in the back seat.

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_10256820
 
I do not know what happened, but I do hope LE finds out. Something doesn't sound right!
 
I agree that something does not sound quite right. How did they not notice two kids in the car with one in the front before the Police came, seeing as they were discovered just after they came? The kids did not just sit there and die so they must have been clambering about trying to get out and crying and stuff.
 
Hmm... well, it's hard for me even to fathom how you don't notice a 2-yo missing.... A 5-yo, sure, can be off for a short while, but at 2? Nonetheless, I think it's possible that the kids could have gotten in the car and then somehow jammed the lock mechanism, for example, a key in the ignition can do this sometimes. After that... it wouldn't take long in those temperatures, the car looks pretty soundproof, and they were out far from the front of the house.

SO very, very sad.
 
I find it odd that in both of the above links, the stories seem to point to heat deaths. But neither of them actually says that.

The second story does state that the mother had met someone online and was planning to go to Kuwait soon to meet him. It also states she had recently quit her job, AND divorced her ex-husband in the last week.

I hate to say it, but I'm not so sure this will turn out to be heat related deaths.

My prayers go out to these poor kids, and anyone who is missing them.
 
Hmmm...that one doesn't look good. Mom recently divorced and preparing to move out of the country to pursue a new online romance. No one else home. Kids have never gone outside alone before.

I wonder if she had made plans for the kids to go with her; i.e., bought tickets, clothing, etc. for them to make the trip as well.

Where did you get the news that she was actually moving out of the country? The article above says "Other neighbors said Mendieta was preparing to leave soon for a trip to Kuwait to meet a man she met online." Although one comment in an earlier article, made by a friend (I guess), referred to the man as a fiance, this article just says she was going on a trip to meet the man.

Very suspicious circumstances, and my heartfelt sympathies go out to the family of these 2 precious children. I cannot even imagine the grief they must be going through. I hope answers come soon, although answers won't bring the children back.
 
Was the car locked when they found them? I didn't see that specified any where. It was 89 degrees.....I don't think these two kids died from the heat. I think they were murdered and placed in the car to make it look like an accident.

I am afraid I am with Tapu. The fact that this woman, who is a mother of two, is planning on going to Kuwait to meet a man off the internet makes my hinky meter go off. It seems very desperate and very selfish to me. You don't do those things when you have two kids. My mother lived in Kuwait and there are some major cultural differences regarding gender roles. Not to mention you are giving that person complete control over you - you are in a different country where you do not understand the cultural norms and customs, you don't speak the language and you don't know anyone. Not a good idea to give that trust and control to someone you don't know.
It sounds very much to me like she is suffering from a mid-life crisis. A lot of her actions are indicitive of someone who wants freedom.
 
Just too sad for words. :( I do hope if the mother had something to do with it she rots in jail!
 
The first thing that crossed my mind when reading about this case was "Riley Ann Sawyers AKA: Baby Grace"

Some similar circumstances here.
Although, I am praying that this was all just a horribly tragic accident.
 
Now they're saying the coroner's office should hopefully have cause of death by the end of the day (it's 4:15 here in town). I don't know how long after that that they will release it to the public, I hope it's not long.

Poor kids!
 
My initial instinct is kids playing. I have a 5 yr old and he followed another kid into a car a few weeks ago. They were looking for gum and the car was left unlocked. There were also younger kids playing... Fortunately us parents were out there and I made a polite comment about children playing and leaving cars unlocked. In this kind of heat, the heat would overcome them so quickly they would not be aware of the danger and need to get out, only that they were tired and needed a nap.

this is another reason, even in "safe" area's to never leave the car unlocked. Scares me that too many around here do, so yes I have had the talk to my son to NEVER play in unlocked cars.
 
Comments from someone that is familiar with that area

My daughter goes to school with several kids who live in this neighborhood. Apparently, a Honduran/Latin looking man was seen driving nervously around the neighborhood around the time the police arrived. In addition, she told me that the biological father (who I thought was out of the picture) was upset because his divorce was finalized
yesterday and killed the kids to get back at the ex-wife.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=98025&catid=339
 

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