Who is Cynthia Marie Randolph? Children die in hot car 'punishment'

On May 26, 2-year-old Juliet and 16-month-old Cavanaugh Ramirez were found dead inside a car belonging to their mother (Cynthia Marie Randolph). Today, Tribune Media Wire reports that Randolph has been charged with "first-degree felony counts of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury." The Lake Weatherforld, Texas mother is currently being held in the Parker County Jail.

WFAA states that the mother left the children in the car to teach them a "lesson." Apparently, after returning from a trip in the car, Juliet refused to get out, prompting the mother to shut the 2-year-old and her younger brother in the hot car alone as a form of "punishment." The temperature was reported to reach 96 degrees on May 26.

Randolph changed story

At first, when Cynthia Marie Randolph called the police, she told them that the children had been playing in a back room of the house while she attended to housework, and that they had somehow slipped away and locked themselves in the car. It appears that Randolph broke out one of the windows of the car in an attempt to deceive investigators.

Officials from the Parker County Sheriff's office arrived at the Rambling Loop address to find the children dead inside the vehicle.

In 2016, Romper reported that a child dies from heat stroke after being left in a hot car once every nine days on average. From 1990 to 2015, 755 children died after being left in hot cars. The majority of cases involved parents forgetting their child was in the car. Incidents where a parent has intentionally left children in a car on a hot day appear to be rare.

Smoked marijuana and slept while children died

Over several interrogations, police were able to see through Randolph's changing story. Eventually, she admitted that after punishing the children by leaving them in the car, she went inside, smoked marijuana, and fell asleep.

The mother was said to have explained that she believed the children would be able to let themselves out of the car.

No bond has been set for Cynthia Marie Randolph. In addition to appearing to have deceived police with regard to how the children entered the vehicle and became trapped, it is believed that Randolph misled police with regard to the length of time they were in the vehicle, originally telling investigators that it was for "no more than an hour." It appears that the children were actually trapped in the car for two to three hours, according to CBS.