A Texas mother of two was jailed this weekend after police say she left her kids in a hot car to teach them a lesson … and they perished.
Cynthia Randolph, 25, allegedly locked one-year-old Cavanaugh Ramirez and two-year-old Juliet Ramirez in the vehicle last month.
The little girl, she felt, needed "a lesson."
Even more shocking is that Randolph, of Fort Worth, apparently told them as much during interviews with law enforcement investigators.
She first said she noticed her kids were missing.
Upon investigating (this was May 26), she said she found them locked in the vehicle, where they"d been for "no more than an hour."
However, that story would allegedly change.
Police said Saturday that, in the weeks since the incident, Randolph has acknowledged that she left her children in the car intentionally.
According to a statement from police, she said she found the kids playing in the car when the 2-year-old refused to get out.
That"s when she closed the door to teach her a lesson, believing that her daughter could get herself and her brother out when ready.
Her kids, again, are 1 and 2 years old.
As the Texas temperatures soared to the mid-90s, Randolph went inside to smoke marijuana, and the kids were not able to exit the car.
After what authorities say was a 2-3 hour nap, Randolph reportedly told cops she came back outside to find her children unresponsive.
The two children were tragically pronounced dead about 30 minutes after the authorities were notified; Randolph was arrested Friday.
In a statement, the kids" father thanked police.
"Please send a thank you to [the] Parker County Sheriff"s Office and the Texas Rangers from the Ramirez family," the statement said.
Randolph also implicated herself again when she told investigators she later broke the car window to make it look like an accident.
The Texas Rangers and U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General Dallas Field Office both investigated the situation.
After she told them several versions of events over the course of a few weeks, they were finally able to make an arrest late last week.
The local Sheriff"s office said that they are satisfied with the arrest of Randolph, who they believed was solely responsible for two deaths.
