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

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It does sound suspicious... for an 18 month old to be able to open the dishwasher, precisely get in the tight caged area while distributing enough weight to engage a door to close hard enough to engage the wash cycle, takes a heck of a lot of motor skills that one wouldn't normally associate with a toddler of that age. But then again, some kids can do the oddest things... but something like this is VERY odd. I was going to touch on the fact that it was odd that the brother just knew to look in the running dishwasher because he found a blanket on the floor... but I can imagine the smell of burning flesh was alarming enough to get anyone to look in the dishwasher. Either this is a very bad situation where a curious toddler wasn't being closely watched... or something is being covered up.
 
my god how could a kid get into a dishwasher with all the pokey things for plates at the bottom? and were there dishes inside? how would he have fit?

i know with all my dishwashers, if they were on midcycle, and you opened the door then shut it, the dishwasher would just start up again.

it would have had to have been empty for him to fit in. and if it was empty, and turned on automatically mid cycle, why would it even be on in the first place?
 
I could be wrong, but my feeling is that the older brother put the child in and turned it on without realizing the consequences. :(
 
While I agree, why would a child WANT to be on those spikes, I did have a washer years ago with a very easily slammed shut door. Unless it was completely flat open and steadied for a second or two, it would SLAM shut. Though it didn't come on by itself, it had the lock bar which had to be engaged to start.
 
I hate to say it, but my dishwasher does not have a locking mechanism and it does start when it closes, but not every time. It drives me nuts because sometimes I will notice it running and I'll look inside and it is empty or the load is already clean. I don;t know if it was stopped in mid-cycle and is finishing or what but it's maddening.
I do not know why it does it and it is a couple years old. I haven't worried about it too much because I was thinking of replacing it in a remodel I am working on.
The door is light and could easily be closed from the inside. BTW the start buttons are not on the outside, they are on the inside edge of the door. It could be they are accidentally being pushed when someone opens the door.

I agree this story sounds fishy, but this could happen at my house and now I am positively going to replace it.

ETA: oh and my racks fold down so there could be a space for a small child.
 
If this does turn out to be purely accidental how much you wanna bet this is the same exact dishwasher the little boy was found in?!... poor guy. :(




JBean said:
I hate to say it, but my dishwasher does not have a locking mechanism and it does start when it closes, but not every time. It drives me nuts because sometimes I will notice it running and I'll look inside and it is empty or the load is already clean. I don;t know if it was stopped in mid-cycle and is finishing or what but it's maddening.
I do not know why it does it and it is a couple years old. I haven't worried about it too much because I was thinking of replacing it in a remodel I am working on.
The door is light and could easily be closed from the inside. BTW the start buttons are not on the outside, they are on the inside edge of the door. It could be they are accidentally being pushed when someone opens the door.

I agree this story sounds fishy, but this could happen at my house and now I am positively going to replace it.

ETA: oh and my racks fold down so there could be a space for a small child.
Click to expand...
 
Mygirlsadie said:
If this does turn out to be purely accidental how much you wanna bet this is the same exact dishwasher the little boy was found in?!... poor guy. :(
Click to expand...
I have a Kitchenaid, I was just going to look at the Maytag models online and see if there is a similar one.
I sit here and realize this absolutely could happen with my current D/W. I have no little ones around, but I will someday and this story just made me realize what a death trap I could have in my own kitchen.
 
JBean said:
I have a Kitchenaid, I was just going to look at the Maytag models online and see if there is a similar one.
I sit here and realize this absolutely could happen with my current D/W. I have no little ones around, but I will someday and this story just made me realize what a death trap I could have in my own kitchen.
Click to expand...

This story is horrible!

I think I might have the same DW as you, JBean. The racks can fold down, but not all of them. More than half still stick up and I can't imagine him being able to sit in there. Did he take the whole rack out? It doesn't turn on automatically, but I do bump the buttons on the front all the time and accidentally turn it on. Drives me nuts too.

But still, I find it astonishing that this 18 month old could pull the door shut tight enough to come on. My door has to be pushed really tightly shut (although there's no latch). And then, someone would have to bump the buttons (on mine).

He had to have been screaming. It makes me ill to think about. Who was watching him? Just the brother? Or brother and dad?

I really can't imagine this being an accident. But I'm with the previous poster who was shocked about the boy in the septic tank being an accident, so what do I know?
 
Goodness, this is the first time since being on WS that I have clicked on a link and couldn't bring myself to read all of it. Accident or not, this is a horrific way for that sweet baby to have to die. I tried reading it last night, and still can't today. Not sure I will ever be able to.
 
angelmom said:
This story is horrible!

I think I might have the same DW as you, JBean. The racks can fold down, but not all of them. More than half still stick up and I can't imagine him being able to sit in there. Did he take the whole rack out? It doesn't turn on automatically, but I do bump the buttons on the front all the time and accidentally turn it on. Drives me nuts too.

But still, I find it astonishing that this 18 month old could pull the door shut tight enough to come on. My door has to be pushed really tightly shut (although there's no latch). And then, someone would have to bump the buttons (on mine).

He had to have been screaming. It makes me ill to think about. Who was watching him? Just the brother? Or brother and dad?

I really can't imagine this being an accident. But I'm with the previous poster who was shocked about the boy in the septic tank being an accident, so what do I know?
Click to expand...
Hi AM
I don't have buttons on the front, they are on the inside edge. So they get depressed when closing the door is the only thing I can think of.
I am just thinking of all the times I have walked in the kitchen to find that stupid thing running empty. I am going to really look at it today.

Either which way the whole thing is positively frightening from any angle. I hope it was an absolute freak accident.
 
I would have to question both the dad and the 13 yr old before coming to any conclusions. I know little kids love to crawl into spaces to hide and maybe this was a horrible accident. More than likely, the dishwasher was an older model. Has there been any pictures shown of the inside of it? If the dad was sleeping, what was the 13 yr old doing prior to noticing the baby's blanket next to the dishwasher? Either this baby was unattended and this was a tragic accident, or the 13 yr possibly got frustrated watching his toddler brother, saw hime climb on the dishwasher and shut the door on him not thinking it would be a fatal mistake.
 
Our diswasher is tilred back ever so slightly( just the way it is made) and doesn't latch just clicks shut. You have to slide the bottom rack out to keep the door open because it shuts it's self, so it is not left open for a child to climb in. I sometimes unload it before it is done drying so the next time it shuts it will finish the drying cycle. the boy was burnt so it sounds like the drying cycle was on. Also I know when my son was that age he loved to turn the knob on the dishwasher to hear the clicks and other dishwasher noises. This type of dishwasher makes sence for a small kitchen because you won't trip on the dishwasher if it is left open because it closes itself. I could see how this could happen I hope it was an accident and no one did this on purpose. I wonder what time of day night this was mom was at work dad was sleeping wht wasn't he in a crib or playpen? Is that his bio dad and brother or step?
 
I called my daughter who has a Maytag about a year old. She said once the cycle is started you can open the door to add a dish and it starts back up as soon as the door is closed. All I have ever had, the lever had to be moved from outside to close the door. Maybe the dishes had been removed before the drying cycle was completed and when he got in and closed the door, it started back on the heat cycle. I guess in that case nobody had to put him in like I had thought at first. I had just not seen one that worked that way. It doesn't seem like a good idea to have that kind around children. One that must be manually closed from outside would be better.
 
Poor baby!!
I dont have a Maytag, I have a Kenmore. Many times, my 4 year old will push buttons on it and ends up starting it.. If I open the door to stop it, it will start up again as soon as the door is closed. You need very little, if any, pressure to close the door.

You would think this baby would cried or screamed and would have been heard!! I can't begin tot hink of the pain and suffering this little guy went through!
 
I almost cried when I read this. I have small kids and they can get into some tight places but a dishwasher seems really strange to me. It hurts me so bad to think of what he went through. I hope they find out the truth.
 
This is one of those stories that makes me so glad that I don't own a dishwasher. I have child-proof locks on everything appliance, cabinet door, and keyed locks on all closets. After a couple of little boys died in an old refrigerator nearby I don't trust anything like that. Kids can be crafty little critters and can do things you'd never think they can do.

I didn't even want to read any links. How terribly sad that this poor baby had to go through that.
 
I have a brand new dishwasher, less than 2 months old. It sounds like it could be a lot like JBean's. There are no controls on the outside, they are on the top inside of the door, and the racks all can fold down. If the start button has been pushed, the dishwasher will start immediately when the door closes.
It seems highly unlikely that a toddler could pull the door shut from the inside, but I suppose it could be possible.
 
Toddler death ‘accidental’

The child’s father, Michael Wayne Kurck, 37, called 911 at about 1:10 p.m. from the family’s home on Snowbird Lane near Romance.

The child was unaccounted for about 15 minutes, investigator Mark Jones said, before his 13-year-old brother, who had been playing video games, noticed he had left the room.

The father, who is unemployed, was asleep at the time of the accident, and the mother, Shelly Kurck, was at work. A three-year-old was also in the home at the time.

Nothing was in the Maytag dishwasher except the child’s body.

“What we have found so far is that we suggest this is a tragic accident,” Jeremy Clark, chief deputy for the WCSD, said. “However, the case is still open and we’re still investigating.”

Detectives have not ruled out foul play, and the investigation is normal for any unattended death.
 
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