Twins, 4, suffocate to death after falling asleep in their cedar toy chest in the night – as heartbroken mom warns parents the boxes become ‘AIR-TIGHT and soundproof’ when closed

Two four-year-old twins have suffocated after falling asleep in their cedar toy box in the middle of the night.

Aurora, a girl, and Kellan, a boy, were put to bed by their father Don Starr on August 25 but decided to snuggle up in the box used to store their stuffed animals.

They ran out of oxygen and suffocated and were eventually found dead with their arms wrapped around each other by their older brother who thought they were still asleep.

Their mother, Sadie Myers, shared her grief in a tribute to the twins on social media and said: “Few people will know the pain of losing two children at the same time and losing them in a way that has no sense.”

She warned other parents that toy boxes become “airtight” and “soundproof” when closed.

They were put to bed by their father Don Starr (pictured) on August 25 but decided to snuggle up in the box used to store their stuffed animals

The twins tragically ran out of oxygen and suffocated. They were eventually found dead with their arms wrapped around each other by their older brother who thought they were sleeping.

Myers opened up about the death of his twins on Facebook and wrote, “Don and I are having an extremely hard time trying to make sense of this…few people will ever know the feeling of trying not to get through EVERY waking second.” to cry in agony.

“So hard it makes you drop in pain, but we try so hard not to let our boys see us that way.

“I have to believe that something in this universe chose them specifically, maybe to protect them from future tragedy, or maybe because their souls were too perfect for this world.”

She was working the night of the incident, so her husband Don put their four children to bed.

But the twins woke up early on Saturday and decided to play together using the wooden chest.

Their mother said they woke up at odd hours and found them sleeping in different places in the morning with toys scattered around their shared bedroom.

“On Friday night, the odd place they decided to cuddle up and go back to sleep was in their cedar toy box we use to store all of their stuffed animals,” she wrote.

The twins took out most of the stuffed animals and kept a few to provide a layer of stuffing, but fell asleep idly.

She woke up on Saturday morning and panicked when she saw they weren’t in bed and weren’t immediately visible.

The family ran around trying to find the twins before one of their older brothers opened the trunk and saw them, unaware they were dead.

He said, “Mom! I found them! They are so silly sleeping in the toy box.

But Myers immediately realized they were dead. “I went to check it out and within seconds I knew something was wrong, but I also quickly realized it was already too late,” she said.

She assumes that they wished each other good night before going to sleep. “Good night, Kell Kell,” Aurora was saying to her twin. While Kellan replied, “Night, night, sissy.” »

The heartbroken mother has warned parents of the danger the cedar toy box can pose.

“What I didn’t know and I’m sure many others don’t know is that most wooden toy chests when closed are AIRTIGHT and also soundproof,” he said. -she writes.

“As they slept, all huddled together, they slowly ran out of oxygen over a few hours and died.

“They never even knew it was happening. There was no sudden need for air, it was a very slow transition from sleep to death…’

The older boys stay with family members as the parents deal with the loss of the twins.

“They’ve been with the family for a week because we don’t want to scare them emotionally seeing us like this, and they need to be away from any triggers that could cause them to end up in the same state,” Myers wrote.

She added: “We are going to attend family therapy sessions to try to address this… Don and I explained to them that death is a part of life and they have done an amazing job giving their little brother and to their little sister the best four years possible. .

“We were so LUCKY to have the gift of having the twins with us, even for a short time, because they changed us all for the better and brought so much light and love into our lives, every second with these twins was full of laughter, nonsense, dancing, silly questions and funny faces, games and jokes, happiness and LOVE!!!’

Deputies from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department arrived at the property but were unable to save them. They have kept details of the tragedy to a minimum to protect the family’s privacy.

A fundraising page has been created on GoFundMe by Myers’ sister, Deanna, and nearly $17,000 has been raised so far for the family.

The twins’ aunt said Starr works during the day and her sister works nights so they don’t have to leave their children with a babysitter.

“They both worked full time, one in the morning and one in the evening so they never had to leave the kids alone with a babysitter,” she wrote.

“I know they were still exhausted, but they were still able to be so present and so loving with each of their four children, every day, without exception.”