Althea Bradford was working last Tuesday, like any ordinary Tuesday, in the property manager’s office at an apartment complex in Sunrise, Florida. While doing her regular tasks, Bradford could see that two children were floating in the community pool not too far away. In a panic, she quickly called 911, who arrived on the scene soon after. It wasn’t until authorities pulled both of the children, 2-year-old twins (a boy and girl), out of the pool as Bradford was outside that she realized the two children were her own twins.
According to the CBS affiliate in Florida, Bradford left her children in the care of a babysitter who was also a resident in the complex as she went to work in the property manager’s office. Police said that at some point, the babysitter went into the bathroom while the children watched TV loudly in the next room. Somehow, the police say that one of the twins opened the locked front door and they both ran out of the apartment together.
“It appears that at one point, one of the children apparently manipulated the lock, at which time both exited the apartment and had a clear path from the apartment to the pool area.”
The pool was not far from the apartment. From there, the children somehow ended up in the pool and wound up drowning. Soon after noticing the kids, their mother called police, unaware of their identity, saying “There’s two dead children in the pool! I just saw bodies!” By the time police arrived, the children had already been in the water for at least four minutes.
All of this occurred before the babysitter was aware that the twins she was supposed to be watching had run out.
Sadly, 2-year-old Jada Roman died from her injuries on Tuesday afternoon. Her twin brother, Henry Roman, remains in critical condition at the hospital. The police are still calling this tragedy an active investigation as they get more details about what happened.
