GA - Jonah, 3, & Nicole Payne, 2, Warrenton, 23 April 2005

[TheShadow]

I actually woke up from a nap one afternoon to the sound of police sirens. I found my across-the-street-neighbor's 2 year old asleep on my ottoman in my living room. Dad had called the cops because his kid was missing from the fenced (6 foot wood fence) backyard. He didn't realize he had left the side door to the garage unlocked and the front door of the garage was open. The kid had wandered across the cul-de-sac and into my house while I slept. He rearranged my living room bric-a-brac and settled down for a nap while I slept in the bedroom. Fortunately I was good friends with the parents and they didn't think I had kidnapped him! Kids do weird stuff and bad things happen to people, even the ones who do "everything" right.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Sorry if I offended anyone here today. But I'm seriously irritated when children get hurt, no matter what the circumstances.

Let's all just be a lot more careful and hold ours a little closer tonight.

(P.S. Since we've got tornadoes, I'll have to hold mine a LOT closer).

 

[Timex]

Timex, how old was Mike when he was out there at 4 am planting flowers?I hate to say I found this humorous when I first read it. Did he say why he was doing this? Guess he wasn't scared of the dark!!

Did you find it humorous at the time? And then, upon thinking about what could have happened, might have happened, it lost its humor for you?

Mike was 4 at the time, and was afraid of nothing or no one. He couldnt sleep, so decided to plant flowers. Thats about how a 4 year old thinks. It did scare us, as we knew he did not sleep much, and we were constantly worried about what he may do while we were sleeping. But again, we are humans, require sleep, so we did the best we could.

 

[Florida]

Did anyone just see Catherine Crier? I am a bit confused on what she reported. She was having trouble with the timeline too. Were the kids outside for 30 minutes before being brought back by the neighbor at 4 pm? And if the mother heard a noise after being in the bathroom for 5 minutes, went to investigate, the door was open and the gate was open, why didn't she see them somewhere. The timeline seems to be the key in the investigation so far.

Just wondering if I have this info right?

 

[2luvmy]

When my daughter was 2 1/2 - 3 years old. I was out with friends and my 20 year brother was watching her. It was 12-1 am. He was sleeping on the couch and she was in her crib. She climbed out, saw that I wasn't home went looking for me and I wasn't in the apartment. Instead of waking my brother, she by passed him. Dragged a kitchen chair over to the door unlocked the door knob and the chain lock on the door....went down three flights of stairs and out the automatic locking doors of the apartment.

By the grace of God, my parents lived in the apartment building across from us and my dad happened to get up and look out the window and saw her playing on the railing talking to a man who lived in our building and had come home from work. My dad ran out of his building, grabbed my daughter, went into my place to see what was wrong and found the door wide open, brother sound asleep on the couch and my other daughter snuggled in her bed. The neighbor man ended up calling the police to verify my dad being her grandpa and he was worried about my daughter being out alone at the time of night. When the police got there they checked out the story, checked out my home, checked out my brother and dad and declared it an accident. THe police officer said that we have no idea how many young children do these sorts of things.

When I got home I was mortified. That morning I went and bought a slide lock and installed at the top of the door. I talked to both of my daughter about not going outside withut lettingme know etc. I'll have you know that with all the commotion and excitement of the night my daughter thought opening the door and getting out was now a game. She even got her 4 year old sister involved. I took a shower came out and caught the two of them on the chair with a broom handle, trying to slide the new lock!

My youngest is a strong willed child and could coerce her sister in to helping out with any plan she could think of. My oldest has gotten in trouble many times falling for her sisters plans.

Children can and do escape when all safety methods that you think of are in place.

 

[LovelyPigeon]

The bodies of two toddlers who disappeared from their east Georgia home Saturday evening were found a few hundred yards away in a sanitation pond Monday after a two-day search. --->>

Bankhead said the children were found in a 1.5-acre pond. He said searchers did not see anything when they first searched the area Saturday or Sunday, but when looking there Monday saw a lump that turned out to be a small body.

"It was just a kind of bump in that green algae bacteria in the pond," he said. "It was very difficult to see these kids. When we first looked at it, we didn't know they were bodies."

The pond is surrounded by a fence, but has several holes where a child could easily get through. It sits at the end of a road behind the family's home. --->> http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/11486038.htm

 

[Mabel]

My youngest son, Jeff, wasn't even old enough to walk when I got a call from my neighbor saying he was playing underneath her car. As far as I knew, he was asleep in his room. I'd tucked him in his crib for the night but he climbed out onto his dresser, over to the window, pushed out the screen, and out he went. I have no idea how he made it to the ground without being hurt. My neighbor didn't know what possessed her to look under her car before backing out of her driveway, but thank goodness she did.

Unfortunately, that was just the start of my worries with that boy. The stories I could tell!

 

[LovelyPigeon]

Florida here's the timeline police apparently gave, from the article urled above:

Police said the mother found the front door open and the children gone.

It was at least the second time that day the children got out of the house, Warrenton Police Chief Jim McClain said Monday. He said Nicole figured out how to unlock the front door and gate and left with Jonah at around 4 p.m. Saturday. A neighbor returned the children about 30 minutes later.

 

[PrayersForMaura]

I keep looking at the picture on foxnews.com of the father looking at pictures of the kids and looking totally distraught. I feel so bad for him and the mother and certainly do not mean any harm towards the mother. Yes, accidents happen and mistakes happen. It's just so sad and sometimes the sadness turns into anger directed towards someone, anyone. I am sorry to the mother if I seemed hard on her. If she or her family do read here, I'm sure they are all going through a lot. I'm not in their shoes so I can't fathom the pain they must be experiencing. I just want to cry every time I see those pictures of the children and read about the "bump" found in the pond. It's heart-breaking and gut-wrenching.

I hope this never happens to any of us here. I couldn't deal with it if it did happen to someone I know. Too painful.

Prayers with their parents and God rest their little souls.

 

[Florida]

Where there's a will there is a way. Short of locking them in their rooms, they will escape. That was a fascinating incident you posted 2luvmy.

 

[bulletgirl2002]

The parents just made an appearance on our local tv. The Dad thanked LE. The mother was just devestated and didn't say anything. She is very pretty...don't know if she has been on national news yet. Their little bodies have been brought to Augusta for autopsies. They had sneaked out one time before and the neighbor saw them and brought them home. Sometimes kids get it in their minds that they want to go somewhere and just go.

Go here for the TV stations streaming video: www.wjbf.com

 

[chicoliving]

Police said the mother found the front door open and the children gone.

It was at least the second time that day the children got out of the house, Warrenton Police Chief Jim McClain said Monday. He said Nicole figured out how to unlock the front door and gate and left with Jonah at around 4 p.m. Saturday. A neighbor returned the children about 30 minutes later.

I gotta smile at the thought of the younger of the two being the "ring leader"....no disrespect meant it just caught my eye and had me thinking back to childhood.

 

[PrayersForMaura]

I gotta smile at the thought of the younger of the two being the "ring leader"....no disrespect meant it just caught my eye and had me thinking back to childhood.

She was indeed a smart little two year old ... and very adorable. This is just so sad, I still can't believe it

 

[fran]

This news isn't what I wanted to hear. My thoughts and prayers are with this family. Two more beautiful angels taken before their time.

JMHO
fran

 

[TheShadow]

A weird but dangerous issue with toddlers is the fact that their heads are like the biggest, heaviest part of their bodies and they tend to be "top-heavy". If they fall in a body of water they sink headfirst most of the time. This makes child drowning a very silent form of death. There's no splashing around and trying to swim usually, they just sink silently to the bottom. Children have actually drowned while playing in the pool with older siblings who didn't see them slip head downward below the surface. In cases of washing machines, toilets and 5 gallon buckets, their little arms are just not strong enough to force themselves up and out of the water once they fall in headfirst. Expect the worst if your kid is missing for even a minute, check the pool first. And watch out for doggie doors, kids often use them to sneak out of if the door is locked. When visiting friends or relatives, make sure you are aware if there are water hazards in or around the yard and whether they have doggie doors.

 

[OrdinaryLife]

Tragic accidents *do* happen to innocents. It happened in my own family when I was 17 years old.

My 2 aunts traveled down this way from upper NY state to camp and hit the beaches here with their children. 2 adults, 2 teens, and 8 cherubs. As is was, the surf was ruff with horrible riptides, so they all swam in the ocean fed pond. My aunts were relieved since they would be able to keep a closer eye on the little guys, as well as my brothers who were goofing around with the little ones.

One of my aunts needed to take 3 of these cherubs to the port 'o pot for "you know". As she was helping each of these little guys do their "thing", my cousin asked if they would go back to swimming soon. She said, "Yes, but wait for me".

This sweet cherub took off as fast as his little 4 year old legs could take him and jumped right into the pond. *No one* saw him, *no one* heard him, *nothing*.

My aunt, a certified Lifesaver, dove and dove and dove and dove....When they finally found him, it was obviously to late, though at the hospital they did revive him..briefly.

Who is to blame? His Mother for not noticing his return? He returned to where they had placed the group. My other aunt who took him to the port o' pot to pee? This same aunt who searched for him before finally finding an arm to grab and bring him up to the surface???

These women have had to live with this guilt for years. An accident. An accident....

I will not place judgement on this mother right now. I can't. When all is said, investigated, and done, then I will be able to share a thought. But, right now, I simply cannot.

My cousin's name was Marty, short for Martin. He was 4 years old. He was beautiful, but he drowned at a ocean fed pond in RI.

 

[ISPTRAX]

I'm giving the mother the benefit of a doubt -- right now -- but, it sure seems like this was a pattern of her kids wandering around. And her story changing on what she was doing. I wonder if she works a night job and sleeps during the day...

 

[lynie]

We can try, but we can never have our kids totally protected!!

A friend of mine tucked her 2 year old into his crib, across the bedroom from his 2nd story bedroom window. Read to him. He fell asleep...

About an hour later, my friend and her husband, and a couple of friends were downstairs visiting when the doorbell rang. Her husband went to the door only to find their son standing there, holding onto his stuffed animal! Not hurt, but crying out of fear.

Seems he moved a toybox over to the window, unlocked and opened it, and was leaning against the window screen when it popped out. They think he must have fallen with the screen, which hit some bushes below to break the fall.

This is a very observant mom, an elementary school teacher who never would have thought that this would have been possible!

 

[KatherineQ]

IrishRose - what a sad and tragic story of dear little Marty.

This is when this happens - when there are too many adults watching the kids, it seems. Family gatherings, with lots of adults are absolutely the WORST times for kids and water - we had a neighbor lose her toddler in grandma's pool while there were grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, etc., in and beside the pool. No one saw him slip under, and then it was too late.

So, so sad. In their grief, they cemented over the pool.

 

[Julie]

As soon as my 3 year old was able to unlock the doors, we went out and got a couple of those hotel locks. You know the ones that have that ball looking thingy on the door, and then the other piece that slides over it. They are at the very top of the door and even using a chair he can't reach it.
He has never gone outside alone, he just liked unlocking the door to let the cat in, but I was NOT taking any chances.