LELAND, Miss.—A 25-year-old Mississippi woman has been arrested after two of her three children drowned when she left them in a locked car and it rolled into a creek, authorities said on March 11.
Payne told investigators she left the children for five or 10 minutes while she went into a convenience store on Saturday.
Police officers rushed to Deer Creek, near the store, to find a white Nissan Pathfinder floating with the three kids trapped inside.
Leland Fire Chief Bobby Johnson and five other first responders jumped into the creek and tried to bust the windows of the car to get the children out.
Two-year-old Raelynn Johnson was rescued that day. Four-year-old Steve Smith and 1-year-old Rasheed Johnson Jr. drowned in the vehicle, authorities said.
"The vehicle then drifted further down and into the creek. Leland volunteer firefighters probed the creek attempting to find the vehicle when a rescue dive team arrived and entered the water," the department stated.
The vehicle wasn't located again until 8 p.m., about two hours after the rescue.
It was eventually pulled out of the water by a tow truck. The boys were pronounced dead at 8:37 p.m.
Leland Police Chief Marcus Davis said Payne left the keys in the vehicle. Davis said investigators believe the 4-year-old put the keys in the ignition, turned the car on and put it in neutral, causing it to roll into the creek.
Davis could not explain why Payne would have left her sleeping children in a locked car with the keys inside or how the 4-year-old could have reached the brake to depress it in order to crank the SUV.
“We’ll look into it further,” he said.
Payne was free on bail.
She did not have an attorney as of Monday afternoon who could comment for her.
Leland is about 85 miles (135 kilometers) northwest of Jackson.