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Kids' deaths blamed on heat

Autopsies, cops offer few details

By April M. Washington, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 29, 2008 at 3:19 p.m.

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At 113 degrees an egg begins to firm.

At 113 degrees a plastic bottle begins to melt.

And 113 degrees had to have been the temperature inside a parked car in which two children died last week for their deaths to be nearly certain.

The Douglas County coroner determined Friday that the siblings died from "complications of hyperthermia," which health experts define as exposure to extreme heat.

The cause of death comes a week after Jasmine VanHerpen-Mendieta, 5, and Nathan Mendieta, 2, were reported missing by their mother on Aug. 20 in Castle Pines North.

The long-awaited autopsies revealed scant information, and officials would not say whether the two children died because the car interior got extremely hot or as result of something else.

The coroner's office referred calls to the Douglas County Sheriff's Department, where officials remained tight-lipped about the inquiry, saying only that investigators continue to examine the death of the two children.

"Obviously, we can't speak about the investigation," Deputy Cocha Heyden, Douglas County sheriff's spokeswoman, said Friday. "We're still trying to determine what happened."

Investigators have questioned the children's mother, Stacey Mendieta, 28, but have made no arrests.

"We're still taking information in this case," Heyden said.

Within a few minutes of arriving at the family's home in the affluent Castle Pines North community, deputies discovered the bodies of the children in a red Honda parked in front of the house.

The car wasn't running, and the officers opened the doors without difficulty.

At the time, Stacey Mendieta's father, Ken VanHerpen, said his daughter reported the children missing.

Mendieta, who lives with her parents in the 900 block of Bramblewood Drive, could not be reached for comment.

VanHerpen, who also could not be reached for comment, had said that his daughter's divorce from Hugo Mendieta was finalized two weeks ago.

Stacey Mendieta reportedly had planned to move with her children to Kuwait to marry her fiance, whom she met online.

Neighbors said the children meant everything to their mother and grandparents. They described Mendieta as a loving and carrying mother.

Comments

  • August 29, 2008

    4:20 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    JustSayin writes:

    "Honey, who's turn was it to watch the kids?"

  • August 29, 2008

    4:34 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Jackieg218 writes:

    Didnt they say in an earlier article that she was sleeping and when she woke up she found the kids missing? If so why are there no arrests made? What about neglect?? Bless the poor kids.

  • August 29, 2008

    4:44 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    aislinn writes:

    This still just shocks and amazes me! I don't get it. I have a 5 year old and she has been able to unlock a door for ages -- unless the mother had the child locks on -- which prevents the child from opening the doors from the inside. How could this happen...who was watching her. I think I've read every article on this but never read where the mother was asleep so I don't know about that...and...I'm confused that the police found the children within seconds of their arrival but mom didn't think to check the car or neighborhood...something is just very odd...at the very least, the children were not being monitored...at the very worst...well, the unimaginable!

  • August 29, 2008

    5:03 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    trinidad writes:

    I hope the mom had nothing to do with the death of her children.

  • August 29, 2008

    6:28 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    BMat writes:

    Well at least she didn't try to stuff them in a microwave . . .

  • August 29, 2008

    9:17 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    GlacierDragon writes:

    Don't blame her for sleeping if she was. Sometimes things can happen where you just get so tired you fall asleep despite everything you do not to.

  • August 30, 2008

    8:23 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    BigSky182 writes:

    aislinn: One of the kids was in the front seat - no child safety locks in the front seat.

    GlacierDragon: Mom worked the night shift, so routinely sleeps during the day. Kids were supposed to be in a daycare center. Grandparents work days, Mom works nights.

    Headline in the story says: "Death blamed on heat" but the body of the story says:

    "...officials would not say whether the two children died because the car interior got extremely hot or as result of something else. "

    It also says that the heat inside the car would have had to be 113 degrees.... was only in the high 80's that day.

    C'mon RMN... report the whole story already!!

    Guess I am going to have to find the rest of the information on other news sites.

  • August 30, 2008

    9:21 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    NeilT writes:

    Dragon-"Don't blame her for sleeping if she was. Sometimes things can happen where you just get so tired you fall asleep despite everything you do not to."

    Yeah, like banging away on the keyboard at all hours, communicating with potential lovers 10 time zones away.

  • August 30, 2008

    9:25 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    RoloFan writes:

    So, were the kids in the car because someone was supposed to take them to day care and didn't? Would that be the mom or the grandparents? I can see her falling asleep after working a night shift, but wouldn't she remember she left them in the car? If she thought they were at daycare, why would she call the police? And just how did the kids get in the car? Did mom put them there or someone else?

  • August 30, 2008

    9:39 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    redwhiteandBLUE writes:

    This needs futher investigation. It dosn't add up!! So..moms going to sleep because shes tired ? What about the 5 yr.old ? And for God sake the 2 yr old ? Mom should be charged for neglegence
    NO supervision! Should'nt we be concerned where the children are.?
    They need to be close by where you can see and hear them.

  • August 30, 2008

    6:30 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    elepine writes:

    even if it's only in the 80s outside, the interior of a car can get over 100 degrees pretty quickly. what a tragic story.

  • August 31, 2008

    12:36 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Diamond42 writes:

    She works nights, So she obviously sleeps in the day... dad is not around. Grandparents watch the kids in the day.....its a tragic case...and I believe that it is no ones right on here to judge that family right now....who are you to judge?

    Very sad-

  • August 31, 2008

    12:40 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Diamond42 writes:

    redwhiteandBLUE:

    MOM is not sleeping because "shes tired" MOM WORKS NIGHTS....so she sleeps in the day...ya know like a nurse can work nights (like my sister however her husband watches the kids when she cannot)

  • August 31, 2008

    8:57 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    blacksho89 writes:

    Diamond42: 2 kids are dead, either from negligence or foul play.

    Judging the actions of the family is wrong because...?

  • September 3, 2008

    8:30 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    COtoBOS writes:

    It doesn't say anywhere that she was sleeping! In other articles it said she had already quit her overnight job so I seriously doubt she had worked the night before. Now you're just speculating and starting rumors! It says in no article that she was sleeping and I've ready every article. It says the interior of the car can go up 40 degrees in as little as 10 minutes so it's possible they were only gone for as little as 10 minutes. So sad.

  • October 20, 2008

    1:31 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    horsegirl2000 writes:

    I believe we have no right to sit up in our ivory tower and judge another family. We do not understand the entire situation. There are a lot of facts that are left unknown. Do you know what it is like to be a single mother now a days? How hard it must have been to be raising two very young children without help from the father? To me it sounded like she was doing the very best she could do and her family was trying so hard to help make her life easier. At least she did not completely ditch her children like their father did. Shouldn't he be getting as much if not more ridicule from you people. I truely belief that it is hard enough lossing two children, the poor women. She has to live the rest of her life thinking that she could have done something different something better, then maybe they would still be here. Shame on everyone for placing such harsh judgement without knowing all the facts!