Twin toddlers, a boy and a girl, drowned last week in their family’s pool when their great-grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s, apparently left a back door open in their Oklahoma City home.
By the time mom Jenny Callazzo found her 18-month-old children, Locklyn and Loreli, at the bottom of the murky water Thursday morning, they were unconscious.
The tots were pronounced dead two hours later, the Daily Mail reported.
Callazzo, a stay-at-home mother who runs a boutique, lives at the $565,000 home with her grandmother, six children and husband Sonny, 42, a marketing executive.
A relative told the Daily Mail that Jenny’s grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s, left the back door open. The twins apparently slipped out of the house and into the pool.
Aerial footage of the home showed a greenish pool filled with algae-covered water.
Police are investigating the deaths but don’t believe there was any foul play, the outlet said.
A few days before the accident, Callazzo, 37, posted pictures of her twins outside the home with the caption “just want to play outside.”
Neighbors said they saw the twins’ distraught mother get into the back of an EMS vehicle as paramedics battled to save her children.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family with expenses.
“These beautiful babies were taken from us too soon. Anything you can give to help with expenses would be greatly appreciated. We appreciate everyone’s love and support,” the posting said.
Laura Gamino, injury prevention coordinator for trauma at OU Health, told the Mail that she hopes parents realize how deadly water can be to young children.
“Anything can happen in an instant,” she warned.
“Children are attracted to water and toddlers won’t have the skills to be able to help themselves get out of water … Drowning is very sudden, and it’s very silent.
“Sometimes people have an idea that a child will have trouble in the water and be screaming, but they can’t because their mouth is full of water. So it’s very silent, and that’s one of the scariest things about it.”
She urged homeowners to install a 4-foot-high fence around their pools with a gate that young children will not be able to open.