Found Deceased MO - Titus Tackett, 3, Killarney Shores, 10 Feb 2016

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Janeumayer said:
I hope you call child services. Those poor kids.
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I hope they call, too. I would love to, but I'm not the witness. I just responded to the post. But yes, in my opinion, this should be called in immediately!
 
I think we should be careful not to take the Facebook comments as fact. There's a lot of crap in there, as far as I'm concerned! ;)
 
Why is it assumed that Titus opened the van doors and not the front car type door? If the neighbor had dogs, Titus could have been afraid of them and went in the van to get away. I don't see anything suspicious about people being out after midnight, particularly if they are visiting with young children overnight. Lots of items you could suddenly need that you didn't think to bring - tampons, personal care, BC, baby items, etc. Why didn't they bring the 3yo with them ? They thought he was sleeping and it was 14 degrees outside!!! If they did bring him, they would have been criticized for taking a young child out in the cold in the middle of the night. I would like to see some hinky meters turned off and compassion meters turned on.
Titus was a brave, smart and dauntless and tragically underestimated. He would have grown up to be a great man and leader.
 
stillwatersc said:
Why is it assumed that Titus opened the van doors and not the front car type door? If the neighbor had dogs, Titus could have been afraid of them and went in the van to get away. I don't see anything suspicious about people being out after midnight, particularly if they are visiting with young children overnight. Lots of items you could suddenly need that you didn't think to bring - tampons, personal care, BC, baby items, etc. Why didn't they bring the 3yo with them ? They thought he was sleeping and it was 14 degrees outside!!! If they did bring him, they would have been criticized for taking a young child out in the cold in the middle of the night. I would like to see some hinky meters turned off and compassion meters turned on.
Titus was a brave, smart and dauntless and tragically underestimated. He would have grown up to be a great man and leader.
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I love your final paragraph! Yes, I would never have woken up my 3 year old to do a midnight errand in the cold (or really anytime). That part does not seem strange in the least to me! In fact it really still just looks like a tragic accident to me! I wish the person supervising him had done a better job, but this sort of thing does happen - many stories in the news of kids wandering out from their homes (or someone else's home) into the cold.
 
jmcgladr said:
What specifically should be called in?
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Someone posted about their mom finding two small children wandering. When she took them home, their mother grounded the 5 year old for allowing the two year old to get out. I'm not going to go back to find it, but it's in this thread.
 
jmcgladr said:
I found the stories shared there to be heartbreaking. Tragic accidents DO happen to children, and it's every parent's worst nightmare when they do. Foul play, of course, does happen too and that's equally tragic in a different way. At this point, there is every indication Titus' death fits the "tragic accident" model (could change, but that's where it stands at the moment AFAIK). I think it's good these parents are supporting one another through their grief.
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That's what stood out to me when JadeSleuth asked about posting the link. It was poignant, but at the same time heartwarming to see so many parents lending encouragement by sharing their own tragic experiences. Many others chimed in with stories of close calls to say that, despite their vigilance, their children had narrowly escaped tragedy. Of course that was a couple of days ago. By now the thread has probably taken its usual nasty turn. Such a pity.
 
DatelineFan said:
Someone posted about their mom finding two small children wandering. When she took them home, their mother grounded the 5 year old for allowing the two year old to get out. I'm not going to go back to find it, but it's in this thread.
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Oh yeah, I remember reading that account. Some parents are clueless scum!
 
birdsmomma said:
From a story on STLTODAY, it clearly states FG is not Titus father

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...cle_cdf2e9c8-339f-59a2-a736-829b5ee2e5e7.html

I hope I did this correctly!
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From your link:

Searchers found him about nine hours later, clad only in a diaper, under a blanket in a stranger's minivan about a mile away by road.
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County Coroner Tony Cole said the body showed no signs of injury or abuse.
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I have such a hard time with the idea that this baby, clad only in a diaper, no shoes, walked all that way at that time of night, in the dark, either through the woods or down the highway, crawled into that van, covered himself up with a blanket and died - and there be no injuries of any kind to his bare feet. I suppose it's possible but it sure sounds improbable.
 
Ontario Mom said:
From your link:





I have such a hard time with the idea that this baby, clad only in a diaper, no shoes, walked all that way at that time of night, in the dark, either through the woods or down the highway, crawled into that van, covered himself up with a blanket and died - and there be no injuries of any kind to his bare feet. I suppose it's possible but it sure sounds improbable.
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It is my understanding that the person that lives at the residence that found Titus in the van covered him with a blanket. I don't have the link, but it was a video of a presser. and yes, I would expect foot injuries....
 
I hope the investigation results come out soon. We care about this little tyke and right now we still have more questions than answers. Sometimes there are no clear cut answers. We may find out more this week however sometimes there are fluke tragedies and that is all there is to it. I just do not know.

In the meantime I am sending prayers of love and comfort to the loved ones of little Titus. Rest in Peace little guy.
 
Ontario Mom said:
From your link:





I have such a hard time with the idea that this baby, clad only in a diaper, no shoes, walked all that way at that time of night, in the dark, either through the woods or down the highway, crawled into that van, covered himself up with a blanket and died - and there be no injuries of any kind to his bare feet. I suppose it's possible but it sure sounds improbable.
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razzledazzle said:
It is my understanding that the person that lives at the residence that found Titus in the van covered him with a blanket. I don't have the link, but it was a video of a presser. and yes, I would expect foot injuries....
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Someone who found the boy in the van had covered him with a blanket.

Source:

Missing Missouri boy, 3, found in van, froze to death, coroner says

http://s.al.com/Ohz2Rni



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I have trouble believing a child, nearly frozen through, had enough manual dexterity left to open any door, much less a van. Regardless of whether he was strong, good with tools, or not, his fingers must've been stiff.
 
When I walked outside to get in my car this morning to go to work, my passenger side door was standing wide open, dead battery and all. I remembered that last night I sent my 15 year old to get the case of bottled water I had bought from my back seat. And, knowing that he is so bad about leaving doors (especially the front door and the fridge door) open (raised in a barn much?), I realized that he must not have closed it last night after getting the water.

I wonder if it's possible (and has this been addressed already?) if the van owner could have possibly left the door open, maybe after bringing in groceries or something? I know we don't know if he opened a front van door or a sliding door, but, IMO, the sliding doors are easier to shut from the inside for a child (most even just have a push button on/near the door frame) because the child is higher up off the ground and not having to stretch to reach up to grab the handle. The newer ones especially, seem to be designed for children to be able to easily close them from the inside as a matter of convenience. I think the opposite is true of one of the front, standard doors. It's probably easier to open them from the outside than to have to pull the heavy door shut from the inside.

What kind of vehicles do Titus's immediate family have, I wonder? Not specifically.. just car, truck, van, etc. I wonder if he was familiar with van doors (the sliding ones). If he had never really been exposed to them, I don't think he would even be able to figure out that it slides back as opposed to opening out like a standard door. And he certainly wouldn't know to look for a button to push to close it.

I have to believe that if he hadn't had a fair amount of experience with a minivan before that it is almost a certainty that he would have gone for one of the familiar, standard front doors to open it.
 
Ontario Mom said:
From your link:





I have such a hard time with the idea that this baby, clad only in a diaper, no shoes, walked all that way at that time of night, in the dark, either through the woods or down the highway, crawled into that van, covered himself up with a blanket and died - and there be no injuries of any kind to his bare feet. I suppose it's possible but it sure sounds improbable.
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I know we all interpret things differently. To me, the quote is specifically addressing injuries that would indicate abuse. I'm not really surprised that we haven't heard anything about his feet. I agree with you, though, his feet should be in poor shape.
 
I have a hard time grasping how a toddler with only a diaper on walked a mile at all. You know he had to be freezing by the time he left his yard so a mile seems out of the question for me. I know my grand kids would have turned right around and went back into the warm house. I just can't wrap my head around the idea that Titus continued to walk for a mile and just happened upon a van he could get into. As cold as it was that night I think he would have sought shelter way closer than a mile.

JMO
 
Sweetgrits said:
I have a hard time grasping how a toddler with only a diaper on walked a mile at all. You know he had to be freezing by the time he left his yard so a mile seems out of the question for me. I know my grand kids would have turned right around and went back into the warm house. I just can't wrap my head around the idea that Titus continued to walk for a mile and just happened upon a van he could get into. As cold as it was that night I think he would have sought shelter way closer than a mile.

JMO
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From my understanding, when you have severe hypothermia, you often feel warm instead of cold as your internal thermostat goes haywire. People with hypothermia have been known to wander a long way too. And have poor decision making skills. Also, I thought I read .5 miles, not a full mile. Here are some symptoms of severe hypothermia:

Severe hypothermia (core temperature below 28 C (82 F):

Shivering stops
Extreme confusion (for example, removing clothing or extreme risk-taking behavior)
A decline in consciousness
A weak and/or irregular pulse
Slow and shallow breathing
Coma that can result in death

From http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/mobileart.asp?articlekey=94312&page=5
 
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