Two toddlers died after their teenage mother deliberately left them in a hot car for 15 hours so she could hang out with her friends, police say.
Amanda Hawkins, 19, left daughters Brynn, aged one, and two-year-old Addyson inside the vehicle on June 6.
She tried to revive them in a bath before taking them to hospital because she was worried about getting into trouble, it is claimed.
On arrival, she claimed the two little girls had been smelling flowers at a lake when they collapsed.
The children died in hospital the following day.
Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer said: “This is by far the most horrific case of child endangerment that I have seen in the 37 years that I have been in law enforcement.”
He said: "It was determined that the two young girls had actually been left in their mother’s vehicle intentionally for over 15 hours overnight on June 6 and until around noon on June 7 while she and other friends were inside a residence.
“Upon discovering the girls, the mother attempted to bath them and did not immediately want to take the girls to hospital because she didn’t want to get into trouble.”
Hawkins was arrested and charged with two counts of abandoning or endangering a child.
But police warned the charges could be upgraded since the children had died.
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