Mother Sentenced to 40 Years for Partying While Her Kids Died Trapped in Her Car

On June 7, 2017, Amanda Hawkins drove her two daughters who were 1 and 2 years old respectively to a hospital in Texas. Amanda Hawkins was just nineteen then. Amanda told the investigators that the girls collapsed after walking and smelling flowers at a nearby lake in Texas. The Texas police, however, didn’t buy the story. Upon further investigation, they learned that Amanda was partying late at night while she left her two girls in the car.

The two beautiful girls Brynn Hawkins and Addyson Overgard were trapped in the car for the past 15 to 18 hours while the temperatures in Hill Country came close to 90 degrees. Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer told Washington Post that somebody told Amanda to bring her children inside. Amanda said “‘No, its fine. They’ll cry themselves to sleep.”

Amanda woke up only the next day in the afternoon and then went out to check on the girls. Police sources said that she was initially hesitant to take the girls to the hospital as she didn’t want to fall into trouble. She ran cold water on their heads and even checked online on how to revive someone from heat exhaustion. “Those precious little girls would still be here today if this had not happened,” Judge Keith Williams told Hawkins during the trial. “People in our community take better care of their pets than you took care of your kids.”

As per reports, Doctor John Gebhart stayed up more than 40 hours trying to save the lives of two girls. Another angle to this petrifying case is that Kevin Franke also entered the car to sleep as there was not enough room inside. Prosecutors say that Franke turned off the engine and turned up the windows which in turn subjected the kids to intense heat. Franke’s attorney Richard Ellison defended him saying that “He hardly knew Amanda and was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Richard Ellison was also not sure that whether the engine was on or off before Franke entered the car. In July Franke was charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Doctor John Gebhart also said that Amanda Hawkins was giggling and texting while defending her side of the story. Before the sentencing, the mother said “I will accept whatever the punishment may be,” and that “there are no excuses for what I did.” She added, “I do love them and care about them.” As per the county police, this case is definitely one of the most horrific cases of child endangerment we’ve witnessed in the past 37 years.