Although no one is certain just how it happened, West Valley police on Sunday declared Friday's deaths of five little girls who got locked in the trunk of a car an accident.
All five apparently died from heat stroke, according to a report from the state medical examiner, West Valley police detective Bryan Shields said.A joint funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday for Jaesha Smith, 4, Audrey Smith, 2, Ashley Richardson, 3, Alisha Richardson, 6, and McKell "Pickles" Shae Ann Hedden, 5.
The Smith girls are sisters and daughters of Paul and Dixie Smith, West Valley City.
Ashley and Alisha Richardson, also sisters, are daughters of Kevin and Liza Richardson, Magna, and cousins of the Smith girls.
Hedden, daughter of Charmion Hedden, was a neighborhood playmate of the others.
President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will preside at the services, and Elder Alexander B. Morrison, of the Seventy and president of the Utah North Area, will also speak. Both hope to offer support to families during their time of grief, LDS Church spokesman Don LeFevre said.
The depth of that grief, immeasurable to most, is painfully spelled out in messages to the girls from their families which appear in obituaries published today in the Deseret News.
"You were so young and innocent, you touched our hearts like no one could," wrote the parents of the Richardson girls. "You were our little angels from above . . . our memories of you we shall never trade and we promise you we will try to be brave."
Investigators said they don't know exactly when or how the girls got trapped inside the trunk of the 1993 Saturn. However, Shields said they probably unlatched the trunk using a button inside the passenger compartment.
The bodies of the five girls were found inside the locked trunk of the Smith family car at 3635 S. 5200 West at 4:03 p.m. Friday.
Stressing the finding that the deaths were accidental, Police Chief Dennis Nordfelt said, "This case is not about blame or fault. We are investigating to determine how this tragedy occurred so we can help prevent similar incidents in the future."
Based on interviews with family members, neighbors and other witnesses, police have pieced together a precise sequence of events leading up to the discovery of the bodies, said Lt. Charles Illsley.
Dixie Smith was tending the five girls and last saw them at 2:35 p.m. She realized they were missing and began looking for them at 2:56 p.m. At 3:15 p.m., she enlisted the held of a neighbor. Police were notified of the missing children at 3:36 p.m. and joined the search at 3:38 p.m.
Illsley confirmed that at one point during the search, Dixie Smith drove the Saturn through the neighborhood, unaware the girls were trapped inside the trunk.
"That image is too horrifying to comprehend," Illsley said, but wondered, "How many parents would think to look in the trunk of a car for a missing child?"
Someone at the scene eventually did suggest that possibility, and Dixie Smith opened the trunk at 4:03 p.m.
The incident is reminiscent of the Aug. 13, 1996, death of Kody Conlin, 2, also of West Valley City. Conlin had been playing with some older children in the front yard of his home, 3350 S. Mockingbird Way (2490 West), when he became trapped in his parents' Mercury Sable.
Family, neighbors and police searched the neighborhood for more than an hour, before the boy was found in the car dead from heat stroke.
Heat stroke is a condition not commonly seen by emergency room physicians, said University Hospital Dr. Phillip Bossart, who has worked in the ER for 14 years.
"We see cramps and exhaustion when people get dehydrated, but not actual heat stroke," he said. "I wouldn't call it rare, but it's not common."
Heat stroke occurs when a person's core body heat rises to extreme temperatures. The increased body temperature has a severe effect on all internal organs, but particularly the central nervous system, which directly affects the operation of the brain and the lungs.
Victims typically lose consciousness and eventually suffer either respiratory or cardiac arrest. The circumstances of course vary from victim to victim, Bossart said.
"Children are at risk for that, as are the elderly, because they have trouble getting rid of heat," he said. "Whether or not these girls suffered very much, I don't think anyone can answer that."
Many of the emergency personnel and witnesses at the scene were "severely traumatized" by the sight of the five dead children, Illsley said. Many of those involved participated in a stress debriefing at West Valley City Hall late Friday night, but Illsley said it's a case that won't soon be forgotten.
"Every police officer, dispatcher and firefighter shares the families' pain," he said. "Anyone remotely connected with this case has been changed forever by the tragedy."
Nordfelt said, "Our hearts go out to the families who have suffered this terrible loss. I ask all members of the community to support them through their healing process."
Police are also urging parents to alert their children to the dangers of car trunks, especially in the era of keyless trunk latches and remote openers. Similar accidents have claimed the lives of four children in New Mexico and two in Pennsylvania within the past month.
"The car trunk is to this decade what the abandoned refrigerator was to past decades. There are more car trunks accessible to children than refrigerators, and the risk is far greater," Illsley said.
West Valley police chaplains have set up a trust fund to help the families defray the costs of the funerals. Contributions may be made to the West Valley Little Girls Fund at any branch of Bank One.
Wednesday's funeral will be held at the LDS Hunter Stake Center, 3737 S. 5600 West.