An Arkansas toddler has become the latest victim of a hot car death, state police announced this week, in a case that has rocked the small town of Booneville. Three-year-old Laykn Petchenik was found Monday lying unconscious inside a parked car outside her mother's home and was later pronounced dead. But she wasn't alone — her younger sister, 15-month-old Olivia, was found beside her and is clinging to life at a Little Rock hospital.
The tragic story behind how it happened is sadly all-too familiar.
The girls' mother, 21-year-old Kaylee Petchenik, had reportedly laid down for a nap inside the home sometime Monday morning. According to reports, she even locked the home's doors before she went to rest. But when she awoke, sometime around 11 a.m., both of her daughters were missing.
A neighbor recalled seeing the mother's panic as she rushed outside to look for them.
"I was sitting out [on] my porch around 11 o’clock and my neighbor Kaylee, the mom, came outside and looked concerned and worried and she came up and asked if I had seen her kids," Matthew Wood told KRDO.
According to Wood, Petchenik works night shifts, so it was understandable why she may have needed a rest. But as he relayed to KRDO, she awoke to find the front door unlocked and open — and her kids nowhere to be found.
Though reports remain varied about when Kaylee called 911, police immediately rushed to the scene to continue the search efforts.
When an officer arrived, Wood assisted him in looking for the children and was close by when they were discovered about an hour later, lying unconscious on the back floorboard of their mother's car.
Later reports shared that temperatures in the area had reached 94 degrees Monday, though the temperature inside the car was likely much hotter.
According to Wood, he was stunned by what he saw.
"I was standing next to [the officer] when we looked down and saw them in the car, but I kind of froze up at the sight," Wood recalled. "I'm not going to lie. He opened the door, screamed for EMS and grabbed both of them and rushed them to the hospital."
The image of Laykn's body being removed from the car is forever seared into his memory.
"The little girl who had passed, Laykn … she was just limp when he picked her up, and just lifeless," Wood told 5News in another interview. "I got sick and my heart just sunk. I had to sit down."
The 3-year-old was pronounced dead at a Booneville hospital and has since been moved to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory for an autopsy.
As for Olivia, the 15-month-old toddler remains in critical condition but is stable, police have shared.
"Knowing that little girl only got 3 years of life and the only thing I can do now is pray that the youngest one makes it out fine," Wood told 5News.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing, and it is unclear whether authorities will seek to charge the mother.
Family and friends have created a GoFundMe campaign to help cover funeral costs. As of Thursday, more than $3,700 had been raised toward the overall goal of $5,000.
Sadly, this is far from the only hot car death that seems to have unfolded this way.
Just last month, two young siblings in Oklahoma also died after they became trapped inside a hot car while their father napped.
Dustin Lee Dennis, 31, told Tulsa police that he had fallen asleep for "four or five hours" inside his home June 25. When he awoke, his children — who were both younger than 5 — were missing. When he finally found them, both were unconscious inside his pickup truck and later pronounced dead.
According to Fox 23, Dennis was initially charged with second-degree murder, when it was suspected that he may have acted negligently and left the children inside the car after a morning trip to a convenience store. Charges were dropped when security footage captured the children climbing into the truck on their own.
Hot car deaths remain a very real concern in the US -- particularly during the summer, when cases tend to rise.
The first hot car death of 2020 was reported April 25, a 4-year-old who climbed into a vehicle, but since then, 10 more have followed. If the annual data is any indicator, more will come.
Each year, an average of 39 children younger than 15 die of heatstroke related to being inside hot vehicles. Some will be accidentally left inside a vehicle after an outing with a parent; others may slip inside when an adult's back is turned and become trapped inside. Whatever the case, each death is sadly avoidable.
Experts urge parents to remain vigilant, particularly during warmer weather, by always checking the back seat when exiting a vehicle, locking the doors when it's not in use, and never leaving small children unattended.
