No charges in death of toddlers found in Manns Harbor, N.C., car

A district attorney said he will not pursue charges against the mother of two girls who died after being found in a neighbor’s car in Manns Harbor, N.C., in June.

District Attorney Frank Parrish said Tuesday that while the case was tragic, it did not meet the elements of a criminal case.

Nineteen-month-old Kassandra Daniels and 2½-year-old Amariyah Daniels were discovered in late June in a neighbor’s car in which the temperature had reached 135 degrees.

Kassandra died shortly after they were found, and Amariyah died early the next morning. The car had been parked near the mobile home that their mother, Amy Lynn Cooper, was renting.

It took Dare County Sheriff’s deputies about 15 minutes to find the girls after they were called about the missing children that day. Cooper told police that they had been missing for about 20 minutes, but she said that she remembered all three children being with her at about 12:45 p.m., police said.

The girls were apparently playing with their 4-year-old brother, police said in July, and it was not clear how the girls got into the car.