Jared Tootell and Anthony Pullum could always be found side-by-side.

Friends and neighbors in their Moreno Valley neighborhood east of Perris Boulevard knew that if they spotted one of the pre-school pals, the other was never far away.

It did not matter if they were helping themselves to a strawberry Popsicle at Anthony's house or rolling toy cars down the sidewalk at Jared's, who was known throughout the area as Jerry. Jared, 4, and Anthony, 3, were inseparable.

At about 5:30 p.m. Thursday, the friends played their final game together.

They crawled into the trunk compartment of a car parked on the driveway of Anthony's grandparents home on Tamara Lane and closed the lid. When they were discovered about an hour later, side-by-side, neither was breathing and neighbors and relatives began administering CPR.

Jared was pronounced dead on arrival at Moreno Valley Community Hospital and Anthony was taken to Loma Linda University Children's Hospital, where he was listed in fair condition yesterday.

Anthony's grandparents, Juanita and Earl Preacely, frantically searched the neighborhood for an hour after discovering their grandson and his buddy missing, driving down streets and yelling for the youngsters as they went.

Finally, Earl Preacely - alerted by a neighbor who had chided the boys the previous day for playing in the open trunk - opened the car trunk and made the grim discovery.

Marks inside the trunk showed desperate efforts by the boys to force open the lid and kick out the back seat to free themselves.

"I will never forget the sight of those two boys in the trunk of that car ," Preacely, 61, said yesterday. "It was dreadful, a horrible, horrible thing. I close my eyes and all I can see is Jerry. I can't get it out of my mind."

Preliminary indications are that Jared died of severe heat stroke. An autopsy will be performed next week by the Riverside County Coroner's Office.

Attempts to contact Jared's parents yesterday were unsuccessful.

The car, a 1987 Hyundai Excel, belongs to Leanora Taylor, Anthony's aunt. A malfunctioning transmission had disabled the vehicle, which was parked earlier this week on the driveway of the Preacely home. The car features a trunk lid that can be opened without a key if the handle is not locked.

Moreno Valley police Sgt. Kent Hoover said authorities are treating Jared's death as "a tragic accident."

Medical experts say that even limited exposure to extreme heat can destroy a body's ability to regulate its temperature.

"Eventually, the attempts at regulation collapse and the heat disturbs physiological functions," said Dr. Larry Mellick, chief of service and chairman of the emergency medicine department at Loma Linda.

"The liver, muscles, kidney, heart and other organs fail. The heat interferes with life functions."

Relatives at Pullum's house found it difficult to comprehend how one boy - who earlier that day had watched cartoons and jumped up and down on beds in their home - could be dead and his best friend fighting for life.

Juanita Preacely, 60, said doctors have told her Anthony is not yet out of danger.

But Preacely, who stayed overnight at her grandson's bedside, was buoyed by his ability to squeeze her hand and respond to some commands. She said early tests indicate Anthony may have suffered liver damage.

"Our thoughts are with Jared's parents," Juanita Preacely said. "We've just got to believe and pray that Anthony will get better. We've done a lot of praying, the whole family."

Juanita and Earl Preacely said they had no idea the trunk of the Hyundai could be opened by turning the trunk handle. When locked, the handle cannot be opened. But Thursday afternoon, the handle was unlocked.

Hyundai spokesman Bill Wolf, reached at company headquarters in Fountain Valley, called the accident "very tragic and unfortunate."

He said he had never heard of a similar incident involving any Hyundai. Representatives of several national and California safety agencies and hospitals said no statistics are kept on such accidents because they happen so rarely.

Earl and Juanita Preacely are the legal guardians of Anthony Pullum and two of his five siblings. They have lived in the Tamara Drive home since January. The couple's 34-year-old son is disabled by a stroke and lives with his parents, who also are his care givers.

The home is child -friendly.

The Preacely's keep a dozen Popsicles in their refrigerator and the packages usually do not last long. The house has a bike path around it so the youngsters can ride as long as they want.

"They played together, they watched cartoons together, they tore up the house together," Juanita Preacely said of Jared and Anthony. "It was like Jerry was part of the family. We considered him like a grandson."