Twin toddlers found dead in car outside South Carolina day care center

RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. (TCD) – Twenty-month-old twin boys were found dead Wednesday in a car parked outside a Blythewood day care facility.

Richland County coroner Naida Rutherford gave a press conference Thursday and announced Richland County EMS were dispatched at 5:40 p.m. Wednesday to the Sunshine House Early Learning Academy at 10336 Wilson Blvd. The toddlers were reportedly enrolled there and were supposed to be at the day care all day.

Paramedics arrived at 5:54 and "quickly assessed for signs of life" but found none. They pronounced the twin boys dead at 5:55 p.m. They were identified as Brayden and Bryson McDaniel.

Rutherford said the children were found in the "family’s car" by one of their parents. She did not elaborate on which parent.

Rutherford said in her press conference that their investigation thus far leads her to believe the twins were in the car for nine and a half hours before the paramedics were called. According to Rutherford, neither Bryson nor Brayden showed any sign of abuse or trauma. She said, "The only abnormality was found in the lungs."

Bryson and Brayden’s cause of death will officially be listed as "pending further studies," Rutherford said. She said it was "probable" that their deaths were caused by hyperthermia. The investigation remains ongoing.

Rutherford added she believes the Sunshine Academy staff is not involved or complicit in their deaths. The Richland County Sheriff’s Department is conducting an investigation into their deaths.

The State newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, reports the high temperature in Columbia Wednesday was 83 degrees.

MORE: