Kentucky Brothers' Bodies Found in Trunk of Mother's Car

Sunday , June 10, 2007

LONDON, Ky.  — 

The bodies of two young brothers who had gone missing in eastern Kentucky were found in the trunk of their mother's car, state police said Sunday.

State police said it appears the boys locked themselves in the trunk and relatives and authorities couldn't find them in time.

The boys were identified as 8-year-old Chase Baker and 11-year-old Coty Baker, according to Laurel County Coroner Doug Bowling. They were reported missing Saturday night around 8 p.m. EDT in at a home two miles south of London, state police said.

The boys' grandparents had called police to say they had not seen their boys for about three hours, Bowling said. A state medical examiner was performing autopsies on the bodies Sunday.

State police said the deaths appear to be accidental.

"Preliminarily, it appears that this is just a tragedy," said Trooper Don Trosper of the state police post in London. "... these boys were out playing and they accidentally got themselves locked in the trunk."

Their bodies were found in the trunk of a 1996 Audi at their mother's home about four hours after the missing report, Bowling said. He said the mother was at the home, which is about two miles south of London, when they were found.

The boys were pronounced dead at the scene. State police were investigating Sunday afternoon.

Federal law requires cars made beginning in 2002 to have release latches inside the trunk.

In 2005 in Camden, N.J., three young boys thought lost were later found dead in the trunk of their family's car. Officials said the boys suffocated after climbing into the trunk on their own.

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