Mother CAUGHT Lying About Kids Freezing in Detroit Van!

The cause of death for two children who died Feb. 10 while staying in a van parked in a Detroit casino garage amid below-freezing temperatures was carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office.

The results of the autopsies for Darnell Currie Jr. and his sister, A'Millah, were released Wednesday by the Medical Examiner's Office. Their deaths were ruled accidental.

Detroit police officials initially said they believed A'Millah, 2, and Darnell, 9, died of hypothermia. The van lost heat at some point on Feb. 10 while parked in Greektown's Hollywood Casino parking garage, and the temperature around midnight hovered at 17 degrees. The medical examiner's office performed autopsies Feb. 11, the day after they died.

The children were staying in the van with their mother, two other siblings, a fifth child and their grandmother, according to police, who said they'd been living in it for two to three months. Both children were pronounced dead at Children's Hospital of Michigan.

Tateona Williams, who said she discovered her son, Darnell, wasn't breathing in the van around noon Feb. 10, told several media outlets that she tried several times to get help with housing before the tragedy. She said everybody now wants to help "after I lost two kids."

"I've been asking for help," Williams told WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) shortly after her kids' deaths. "I feel like it wasn't their time. I did everything I was supposed to do."

The Detroit Police Department said it had received the medical examiner's autopsy results and its investigation would continue.

“We will continue investigating the facts and circumstances of the case and submit our findings to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office," Police Chief Todd Bettison said in a Wednesday statement.

Carbon monoxide poisoning
The deaths of Darnell and A'Millah aren't the first caused by carbon monoxide poisoning inside a parking structure. Kellye Canty, 25, and her 10-month-old son, Kanan, of Detroit died of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning in March 2022. The two had been inside a car at a parking garage at Harper Hospital while her mother had an appointment.

Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas. It's found in fumes produced by furnaces; kerosene heaters; vehicles “warmed up” in garages; stoves; lanterns; and from gas ranges and portable generators or by burning charcoal and wood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although carbon monoxide poisoning from a vehicle while it's in a space like a large parking garage is rare, it's still possible depending on where the vehicle is parked and how much air is circulating, said Dr. Asha Shajahan, a Corewell Health primary care physician who also teaches homeless medicine.

"Depending on where you were in the parking garage, if you're in a corner where there's a wall, you're surrounded by several walls, and you don't have as much circulation going with the outside open air," Shajahan said. "It is a possibility."

Each year, as many as 430 people die in the United States from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, and an estimated 50,000 visit an emergency room because of it, the CDC reported.

In general, it's dangerous to stay in a running vehicle in an enclosed space, Shajahan said, adding that other people in the vehicle could have been affected to different degrees than the children who died.

"I can't speculate what happened that night, or what happened that day, or where they were in the parking garage," Shajahan said. "The ultimate take-home message is that these children died because of unfortunate circumstances, and these are the social determinants of health."

The Corewell doctor said homelessness is one of the so-called social determinants of health, or economic and social conditions that influence or affect someone's health status. Regardless of the medical cause listed on their death certificates, she told The News she believes homelessness killed the children.