--- description: Twin babies died in New York City on Friday after their father allegedly left them alone inside a hot car title: Twin 1-Year-Olds Die Inside Hot New York City Car image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [New York](/tag/new-york/) ## New York Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Twin 1-Year-Olds Die Inside Hot New York City Car  by [Tara Law](/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 27, 2019 2:45 PM CUT  by [Tara Law](/author/tara-law/)  ## Tara Law Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 27, 2019 2:45 PM CUT Twin infants died in New York City on Friday after their father allegedly left them alone inside a hot car, police say. The children, 1-year-old Luna and Phoenix Rodriguez, were allegedly left inside a Honda sedan for eight hours while their father worked a shift at a nearby hospital in the city’s Bronx borough. A passerby called the police after he saw the father screaming on the side of the road, the [New York _Post_](https://nypost.com/2019/07/27/dad-of-twin-babies-found-dead-in-bronx-car-hit-with-manslaughter-homicide-charges/ "undefined") reported. Emergency responders arrived at around 4:08 p.m. and pronounced the children dead on the scene, police say. The father, 39-year-old Juan Rodriguez, was immediately taken into police custody and later charged with two counts of manslaughter and two counts of criminally negligent homicide. Police did not say why Rodriguez left the children in the car. Temperatures reached a high of about 84 degrees in New York City on Friday, but the temperature inside the sedan likely rose much higher. [Studies suggest](https://time.com/5291550/cars-dangerous-temperatures/ "undefined") that cars can quickly overheat when left in direct sunlight. The conditions can be particularly dangerous for children, who are sensitive to heatstroke. About 38 children die of vehicular heatstroke each year, according to [kidsandcars.org](http://kidsandcars.org "undefined"), an organization which tracks the deaths. Including the twins, 23 children have died in hot cars in the United States this year, the organization says. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5637058/twin-babies-nyc-hot-car/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5637058/twin-babies-nyc-hot-car/"},"headline":"Twin 1-Year-Olds Die Inside Hot New York City Car","datePublished":"2019-07-27T14:45:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T00:06:02.942Z","description":"The father apparently left the children for 8 hours while working at a hospital nearby","url":"https://time.com/5637058/twin-babies-nyc-hot-car/","keywords":["New York","Crime","New York City","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara Law","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-law/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/new-york/","name":"New York"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5637058/twin-babies-nyc-hot-car/","name":"Twin 1-Year-Olds Die Inside Hot New York City Car"}}]}] ```