“My husband will never forgive himself for killing our babies”
One-year-old twins Luna and Phoenix died after their father left them in a boiling hot car. Closer investigates the devastating case...
Driving home after a long day at work,
Juan Rodriguez glanced at the back seat and made a horrifying discovery. He’d accidentally left his one-year-old twins, Luna and Phoenix, in the car all day after forgetting to drop them off at nursery. In soaring summer temperatures, the helpless twins had died of heatstroke.
The appalling case has divided opinions worldwide. Some have branded Juan a murderer, finding it impossible to believe that he could have been so forgetful. But his devastated wife, Marissa has chosen to stand by her husband, and last week appeared on US talk show Dr Phil, to speak about the tragedy for the first time.
Marissa – who had released a statement days after the tragedy, describing it as a “horrific accident” and insisting, “I still love my husband”, explained that she and Juan, 39, lived a busy life with their children. Marissa and Juan also have an older son, four, and Juan has two older children from a previous relationship, aged 12 and 16.
She said, “We are the parents of five children, so every day we’re tired. That morning it was, ‘Thank God it’s Friday’. You’re just looking forward to the weekend, taking the babies to the beach for the first time.”
Friends have said what great parents the couple appeared to be. A neighbour said, “They were a great family. Always doing things with the kids, always in the yard playing. He would always play catch or basketball with his older kids.”
DEVOTED PARENTS
But at 8am on 26 July, Juan, an Iraq war veteran, drove to work in New York, USA, to start his day as a social worker, counselling disabled veterans. Most days, Juan took the twins to nursery school in his silver Honda.
Juan and Marissa would then take it in turns to collect the kids. So, after eight hours at work – during which time the couple had spoken several times on the phone without Juan remembering he’d left the children in the car – he phoned his wife to ask her to pick up daughter Luna and son Phoenix.
When Marissa received the call from her husband, she didn’t answer as she was on a work call. At some point afterwards, Juan drove off in his car and made the terrifying discovery that he’d left the twins there. When he called again, Marissa heard Juan in hysterics. She said, “He was screaming in the phone, I could tell through what he was saying and how he was saying it. I heard him say that they were gone. I didn’t believe it. I just kept saying, ‘You’re joking, you’re kidding’.”
ORGAN FAILURE
The outside temperature on that day was 30 degrees, quickly turning the car into an oven. The twins’ body temperature rose to 42 degrees and their organs began to fail, before they died of heatstroke.
Juan reportedly told officers at the scene, “I assumed I dropped them off at day care before I went to work. I blanked out. My babies are dead. I killed my babies.”
Luna and Phoenix were buried in August, dressed as angels.
Juan has been charged with two counts each of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of a child. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. If convicted, he could face 20 years behind bars.
Now, Marissa worries about her husband facing prison time. She said, “I don’t feel that it’s fair. I can’t understand how that is justice at all. We are living our life every day without our children, that is devastating enough. I can’t imagine not having my husband next to me to grieve throughout this process.”
Marissa also told Dr Phil that Juan has had suicidal thoughts and was in a “dark place”.
She’s also admitted to feeling angry – despite Juan’s constant apologies. She said, “I have been so angry. I just couldn’t understand how it happened."
While Juan awaits his fate, he and Marissa are supporting a law change called the Hot
Cars Act, calling for alarms in cars to alert drivers if a passenger or animal is left in the vehicle. Since 1998, more than 800 children have died from heatstroke in America, after being left in a car, with 51 dying in 2019 so far. Around half were forgotten by their parent or caregiver.
Juan and Marissa continue to grieve for their children – she carries their shoes with her wherever she goes. She said, “I will never get over this loss, and I know he will never forgive himself for this terrible mistake.” By Alexandra Meyer
I’VE BEEN SO ANGRY – I COULDN’T UNDERSTAND HOW IT HAPPENED