A grieving mother issued a heartbreaking warning after her twin daughters died in an unimaginable tragedy at their family home in 2023.
In a heartbreaking social media post, Sadie Myers opened up about the possible danger of an ordinary object found in many homes. She and her husband, Don Starr, had bought a large cedar chest to keep toys and stuffed animals, never imagining the devastating event that would later be connected to it.
Sadie explained that she had been at work while her husband put their children to bed. After returning home, she checked on her little ones herself before the family ate dinner and eventually went to bed.
At some point during the night, Sadie believes her twins, Kellan and Aurora, got out of their bed and moved somewhere else, possibly because they wanted to play.
The sisters eventually climbed into the cedar toy chest that the family used to store their stuffed animals.
Sadie described how the girls had taken almost all of the stuffed animals out, leaving only a few inside, perhaps to make the space more comfortable. They then lay inside the chest head to toe, each with an arm resting over the other.
She imagined that the twins may have wished each other goodnight before falling asleep.
“Sometime during their sleep one of them must have moved or kicked during a dream and it caused the lid of this old wooden cedar chest to close,” she explained.
Sadie said she had never realized that some wooden toy chests could become sealed once the lid was closed.
She believed that while the girls slept peacefully together inside, they gradually ran out of oxygen over the following hours.
According to Sadie, the twins did not appear to realize that anything was wrong. She described it as a slow process that happened while they were asleep.
When the family woke on Saturday morning, they discovered that the twins were no longer in their beds.
Eventually, one of their siblings found the girls inside the toy chest.
“Mommy I found them!” Sadie recalled the child saying.
The sibling reportedly thought the twins were simply sleeping inside the toy box and did not understand what had happened.
Sadie rushed to check on them.
She said that within only a few seconds, she realized something was terribly wrong and that it was already too late.
The tragedy left her struggling to understand how something so heartbreaking could have happened inside their own home.
Sadie later urged other parents to take the warning seriously, particularly anyone who owns a similar toy chest.
She hoped that sharing the family’s experience could help prevent another tragedy.
The twins. Credit / Facebook: Sadie Myers
Sadie strongly encouraged families to examine any toy box or chest that children might be able to climb into and to remove dangerous furniture from their homes.
She said she never imagined that a toy chest could pose such a serious risk and hoped other parents would learn from what happened to her daughters.
A Father’s Heartbreaking Message
Don Starr also struggled to speak publicly about the loss.
For some time, he held back from sharing the details because part of him hoped the entire experience was simply a terrible nightmare.
Eventually, however, he felt unable to keep his grief to himself.
He described his family as having been devastated by the loss of their “beautiful perfect twins.”
Don asked friends, relatives and supporters to send love, strength and positive thoughts to Sadie, their sons and the rest of their family as they attempted to cope with the tragedy.
He also expressed gratitude for the people who had stood beside them during such an unbearable period.
In his emotional message, Don encouraged people to hug and kiss their children and loved ones, including those who had already grown up.
The loss of Kellan and Aurora permanently changed their family.
Sadie chose to share their story not only to remember her daughters, but also to warn other families about a danger she had never known existed.
Rest in peace, Kellan and Aurora.
