Bodies of 2 toddlers recovered from car found in South Carolina river; mother arrested

Bodies of 2 toddlers found in car in SC river

ORANGEBURG, S.C. — The bodies of two toddlers were pulled Monday from a car submerged in a South Carolina river, their mother arrested and authorities were investigating whether their deaths were accidental.

Two-year-old Devean C. Duley and 18-month-old Ja’van T. Duley were dead by the time divers got to the car in the North Edisto River near a rural boat landing, Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams said. County Coroner Samuetta Marshall would not speculate on a cause of death until autopsies were completed Tuesday.

The boys’ mother, Shaquan Duley, 29, was being held Monday on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident. It was not immediately clear whether she had a lawyer.

Williams said the Highway Patrol was notified about 6:15 a.m. that a woman needed help getting her children out of the car. The children were still strapped in their child seats when divers found them about 45 minutes after being called to the scene.

“Early in the investigation, the state patrol felt there was not enough indicators to substantiate that there was an automobile accident,” Williams said. “We are looking into all possibilities as to what happened.”

The woman, who did not have a cell phone, had walked some distance down the country road by the boat landing and flagged down a passing motorist to call the Highway Patrol.

“She showed some emotion, but I can’t say she was overly distraught,” the sheriff said. “Through her statements, there are some things we think are not believable.”

Williams said authorities were attempting to contact the children’s father, who did not live with the family.

The sheriff said investigators are considering how a traffic accident could have happened at the boat ramp, about 20 yards upstream from a main road that crosses the slow-moving river in Orangeburg, about 35 miles south of Columbia, the state capital. A mobile home, a house and mechanic’s shop are a short distance away.

Shakeyia Baxter said the main road was heavily traveled in the mornings and would have been especially busy on Monday — the first day of school. Baxter stopped by the boat ramp, which is littered with empty beer cases and discarded soda bottles, on her way home from work at a McDonald’s to tuck silk flowers into a sign that warns of high levels of mercury in the fish.

“My heart goes out to them,” said Baxter, a 30-year-old mother of two. “I would have been doing everything I could to get those kids out of that car seat.”

The case was reminiscent of a famous South Carolina case in 1994. Susan Smith left her 3-year-old and 14-month-old sons strapped in their car seats as she rolled her car into a lake in Union County in the northwest part of the state.

She was convicted in their deaths and is serving a life prison term.

__

Associated Press Writer Bruce Smith in Charleston contributed to this story.