In Texas, an 18-year-old man is charged with two counts of first-degree mu*rder in the de*aths of two toddler girls who were left in a hot car that was left on for 15 hours.
Court records seen by PEOPLE show that Kevin Franke was charged on July 23, which is more than a year after the de*aths of Addyson Overgard-Eddy, 2, and Brynn Hawkins, 1.
It was unclear Wednesday if Franke had entered pleas to the charges. His attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
For the dea*ths of the children, Franke was charged with two counts of manslaughter, injury to a child, and child endangerment in April. He said he wasn’t guilty of the charges against him.
Addyson and Brynn died on June 7, 2017, after allegedly spending part of the night before in an SUV parked outside of their mother’s home in Kerrville.
Amanda Hawkins, the girls’ 20-year-old mother, is said to have left them in their car seats around 9 p.m. on June 6, 2017.
There are accusations against Hawkins in court papers. He has pleaded not guilty to two counts of child endangerment and two counts of child injury.
Police said that someone heard the girls crying in the evening and asked them if they wanted to come in.
“She told him, ‘No, it’s okay.'” They are going to cry themselves to sleep. “Rusty” Hierholzer, the sheriff of Kerr County, Texas, said this in an interview with the Washington Post.
When they were taken out of the car at noon on June 7, the kids were not awake.
Court documents say Hawkins spent the night before meeting up with friends at her house. Her lawyer was also not available to comment.
The police say Franke, who is not related to the victims, was one of those friends. The court papers say that he went back to the SUV and slept there for a few hours.
The indictment says Franke told police that he couldn’t find a place to sleep in Hawkins’ house, so he chose to sleep in the SUV.
Franke says he didn’t know the kids were in the car because he didn’t hear any noises from them.
The indictment alleges Franke rolled up the SUV’s windows and shut the engine off when he exited the vehicle at 8 a.m. on June 7.
He is also accused of not taking the girls to the emergency room, which is also said to be true of Hawkins.
Franke and Hawkins are still being held by police without bail.
