The mother of two kids who died while sleeping in a van has broken her silence.
In recent days, police revealed that two children has sadly died after sleeping in a van in Detroit, Michigan, in below-freezing conditions.
The kids – a two-year-old girl and nine-year-old boy – were in the van with their mother, another adult, and three other children when the tragedy occurred.
The mom, named as Tateona Williams, woke up on Tuesday (February 11), to find her son and daughter not breathing.
They were rushed to hospital, where they went on to be pronounced dead.
Two of Tateona Williams have sadly died (WXYZ-TV Detroit Channel 7)
It’s believed they died from ‘exposure to hypothermia’ with the cold temperatures in mind.
Now, Williams, 29, has spoken out about the moment she discovered her nine-year-old son wasn’t breathing.
“I tried to give him CPR, I was just giving him CPR and kept saying, ‘Don’t leave me, don’t leave me please,'” the grieving mother recalled.
Addressing her family’s living arrangements, Williams went on to tell WXYZ 7 News Detroit: “I regret having to sleep out there so bad. I tell them, ‘I’m sorry, but I tried.’
“I tried to keep hotels. I tried to pay people to stay there [in hotels]. It wasn’t working for me.”
The van had been parked on the ninth floor of Hollywood Casino’s parking garage at around 1am on Monday (February 10), NBC News said.
Williams also said her ‘heart is breaking’ following the death of her two kids, but has to fight on because she has ‘two more kids to live for’.
Tamara Liberty Smith, the director of a shelter where Williams, her mom, and her kids are currently staying, has pledged to help the family in light of the mom-of-four’s homeless struggles.
“I’m going to make sure that we provide all of the resources that she needs,” Smith told PEOPLE.
“The plan is to get them set straight. I feel that the city owes her that. I know that Tateona feels that the city failed. Housing is a really big issue — but in the midst of failing her, I feel that we owe her.”
The family’s van was parked in a garage (Fox 2 Detroit)
She added: “She was doing all that she knew how as a mother to protect her children with no shelter because their vehicle was their shelter.”
The tragic ordeal comes after homelessness in America reached record heights last year.
An annual survey by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development found that ‘more than 770,000 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2024’, reported WMYD Detroit.
This marked an 18 percent increase from the same time in 2023.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact The Compassionate Friends on (877) 969-0010.
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Niamh Shackleton
Police share new details after two children likely ‘froze to death’ while sleeping in van
Authorities in Detroit said the children were two of five kids sleeping in a parking garage
Police in Detroit have shared details of a tragic incident in which two young children died after spending the night in a van amid freezing temperatures.
Interim Detroit Police Chief Todd A. Bettison shared details of the situation in a press conference on Tuesday (February 11), one day after the children’s mother realized the two-year-old girl and the nine-year-old boy had stopped breathing while sleeping in the van in a parking garage.
Bettison said the mother had already called a close relative for help when the van ran out of gas, after which she realized her son, who was one of five children in the van, wasn’t breathing.
The mom was with her five children in the parking garage (Fox 2 Detroit)
The mom then called 911, and the friend used their own car to take the nine-year-old to the Children’s Hospital of Michigan.
According to Bettison, the mom then proceeded to check on the remaining four children who were in the van, at which time she realized the two-year-old also wasn’t breathing.
The ‘entire family’ then got into the car and went to the hospital, where the two- and nine-year-old children were ‘pronounced deceased’.
Detroit Police Capt. Nathan Duda told NBC News that early indications suggested the children ‘froze to death’.
Temperatures had fallen below 32 degrees Fahrenheit while the kids were in the van, police said, indicating the deaths had been the result of ‘exposure to hypothermia’.
The cause of deaths will ultimately be confirmed by the medical examiner.
The children were taken to hospital after the mom realized they weren’t breathing (Fox 2 Detroit)
The other three children, aged four, eight and 13, were determined to be in a stable condition after they were treated in the hospital. They are now with other family members.
Meanwhile, the mom was detained and provided a statement before being released.
Authorities have confirmed that officers will conduct an investigation into the deaths to determine if charges are necessary.
Duda told NBC: “It has to be [investigated]. I don’t think anyone really wants to think about that at the moment with the two children passed, but the reality is that the circumstances do have to be examined.
“We have to figure out how to go forward.”
Temperatures were below freezing (WXYZ-TV Detroit Channel 7)
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan revealed during the press conference that the family involved had previously reached out to the city’s ‘homeless response team’ on multiple occasions, most recently on November 25.
While there was ‘no resolution reached’ in that conversation, Duggan said the family ‘never called back again’, but neither had anyone ‘proactively’ reached out to the family.
Noting ‘there were family shelter beds available just a few miles away’, he added: “[It] brings home the point that having services available doesn’t mean very much if the residents who need them don’t know how to access them.
“We have to make sure that we do everything possible to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
