Two toddlers died after being locked in a hot car for several hours by their mother who left them in the car to teach them a lesson, officials said.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner classified their deaths as homicides.
Cynthia Marie Randolph, 25, faces charges of first-degree felony counts of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury, according to Parker County Sheriff’s investigators.
The incident happened May 26 when officials were called to the 200 block of Rambling Loop, west of Lake Weatherford, shortly after 4 p.m.
Randolph found her two children, a 16-month-old boy named Cavanaugh Ramirez and 2-year-old Juliet Ramirez, playing inside the car. Officials said one of the kids refused to get out of the car, so she shut the door to teach her daughter "a lesson," thinking they could get themselves out of the car.
Temperatures reached approximately 96 degrees that day.
An investigation revealed Randolph then went inside her home, smoked marijuana and fell asleep for several hours.
The children were pronounced dead shortly after 4:30 p.m. Their deaths have since been ruled as homicides.
In multiple interviews, officials say Randolph created several variations of the events. She later told investigators that she later broke the car window to make it look like an accident.
She was booked into the Parker County Jail. Her bond has not been set.