The devastated father of two-year-old twins from Oklahoma who were found dead in the backseat of a hot car has broken his silence after heartless rumors were circulated online about their death.
Avery and Ariel were found unresponsive in the backseat of a family vehicle around 3pm on Thursday in the neighborhood of Norman where temperatures reached 90F outside.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, dad Marshall Suter revealed he was at work and was contacted by an officer about the tragic news his little girls were gone.
‘I didn’t know anything until 11:15pm on the 5th September and I was told in person by the police that they passed away. My heart’s been a wreck ever since.’
Marshall Suter, the devastated father of two-year-old twins from Oklahoma, Ariel and Avery, who were found dead in the backseat of the family’s hot car, has paid tribute to his toddler girls
Twin toddlers, Ariel and Avery, were found dead inside a hot car around 3pm Thursday in Norman, Oklahoma
The girls were supposed to have been taken to daycare by a family member but ended up being left in the back of the car for most of the day
It was an unnamed family member who had started driving the white car, before turning around and realizing that the twins had passed away in the backseat.
That family member was meant to drop the children off at daycare but forgot. By the time the pair were found, it was too late.
Officers pronounced the children dead at the scene after being called for a wellness check. Police are still investigating how or why they were left in the scorching car.
On Sunday night, Suter paid tribute to the twins who were born in 2022, describing them as the ‘brightest and best twins the world could’ve had’ with a love that was ‘the most pure’ he had ever experienced.
‘They were loved by everyone in the family. They did everything together,’ Suter told DailyMail.com.
‘From the hugs to the kisses to the laughs. Their love was the most pure I had ever felt. And I won’t be able to feel that again. Mom and dad love their baby girls.
‘No day will ever be the same. Our hearts are shattered. Losing a child might have be the hardest thing ever, and I lost two. I don’t think I’ll ever be okay again,’ a heartbroken Suter said.
‘From the hugs to the kisses to the laughs. Their love was the most pure I had ever felt. And I won’t be able to feel that again. Mom and dad love their baby girls,’ Suter said in tribute
Officers soon located the vehicle (pictured) and pronounced the girls dead at the scene. Police are still investigating why they were left in the scorching car
A floral tribute has been set up near McKinley Elementary in Norman, Oklahoma
Police are not currently recommending charges for the deaths and say the family is cooperating with inquiries.
‘We would have had to determine that there was probable cause indicating a willful negligence directly linking them to the death of those children, and at this time, the investigation is just showing us that it’s far more an accident,’ Sarah Schettler with the Normal Police Department told KOCO 5.
Police believe the children had been in the car all day – but the timeline of events is still vague.
‘This is truly tragic and has been very hard on the family involved especially where hateful comments are concerned. I hope this will at least show people that it wasn’t intentional and truly an accident. This family would just like some peace in this difficult and heavy time,’ a family member told KFOR.
Katherine Dawson, Ariel and Avery’s mother, also took to social media on Saturday about their tragic deaths.
‘I know at this time lots of people are wanting to reach out and be there for us. Both Marshall and I are struggling more than imaginable. We ask that you please respect that we need some space right now while we process and grieve.
‘If you need to reach us we have lots of family on both sides that can get in contact with us,’ Katherine said.
Suter and Dawson, who share four children together including Ariel and Avery, often post loving photos of their kids on social media – commemorating birthdays and holidays.
Andrew Kabara, a neighbor in the area, said cars often park on the street because a lot of parents drop off students at McKinley Elementary School or the University of Oklahoma – a couple blocks from where the toddlers were found.
‘We pay attention to most of them,’ Kabara told The Oklahoman.
‘This is a close-knit neighborhood, and we want to know who’s coming through here and all of that, but never thought something like this,’ he added.
On the day the girls’ were discovered Kabara said he grew worried after he spotted multiple cars pull up across the street.
‘We feel for the children who passed and their parents and the rest of their family.
‘We can’t imagine. After we heard it [Friday] morning, our hearts just broke that they were just two little kids across the street from us.
‘That just broke our hearts. We can’t believe something happened so close. It’s a shame,’ Kabara said, adding that their deaths were ‘a tragic mistake.’
Flowers have been placed on the lawn near where Ariel and Avery were found. The medical examiner is expected to announce the cause of death in the coming weeks.
A GoFundMe page was created by Kourtnee Usey, the cousin of Marshall Suter, the girls’ father.
‘All funds will be used to give these precious little babies the funeral they deserve, and take some weight off of this father’s shoulders after dealing with such a tragic and HEARTBREAKING loss,’ Kourtnee wrote.
‘No one truly knows the pain of losing a child until you are going through it.’
As of Sunday night, the page raised more than $4,000.
The twins are seen with their mother Katherine Dawson (right) and their other siblings in December 2023
Police are not currently recommending charges and said the family is cooperating with the investigation. A child’s car seat can be seen on the side of the road
DailyMail.com contacted the Norman Police Department. The horrific incident marks the first heat-related child death in the state this year.
A three-year-old boy was found dead inside a roasting SUV on August 13 after his father abandoned him to go shopping.
The child died inside an SUV in the parking lot of a supermarket in Kalamazoo County, Michigan when his father stopped there after work.
The Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office is treating the death as a heat-related incident.
Temperatures in Vicksburg, a village in Kalamazoo County where the death took place, reached the mid-80s that day.