Update – June 16, 2020, 2:05 a.m.: The defendant was released from jail on a personal recognizance bond on Monday, June 15, 2020 after detectives said they found surveillance footage showing the kids entering the vehicle by themselves.
“Video surveillance footage from a neighbor’s home confirmed that the children managed to get into the truck and tragically never got out,” according to a statement from the Tulsa District Attorney’s Office that was obtained by Q13 Fox.
There were no formal charges filed. Our original story is below.
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An Oklahoma man is charged after two of his children were found dead. Dustin Dennis faces two counts of second-degree murder, and is being held at the Tulsa County Jail in lieu of $750,000 bond, records show.
Police said they responded to a call right before 6 p.m. on Saturday, according to KTUL. They claimed to find the defendant and his late children in their living room.
Dennis said he drove to a QuikTrip convenience store with his kids around noon, and returned home, police said. In this version of the story, he got his children out of the car, slept for about five hours, and woke up to see that he couldn’t find them. He allegedly claimed to have made the tragic discovery in his truck: The kids were on the floorboard dead. He brought them inside the home.
But as described by cops, surveillance footage from a neighbor doesn’t match that story. According to them, video shows Dennis leaving his vehicle without his children, locking the truck, and entering his home. In this version of the story, he didn’t take them out for almost five hours.
#BREAKING: from TPD:
-Father in custody for second degree homicide.
-Kids 3 and 4, male (3) and female (4)
-Kids died from being left in a hot car.
-Dustin lee Dennis is the father
-Officers beloved kids were left for 5 hours with temperatures reaching triple digits. @NewsOn6— Amelia Mugavero (@AmeliaMugavero) June 14, 2020
A GoFundMe campaign started by relatives has raised over $1,480 of a $10,000 goal as of Sunday night.
A family member identified the children as 4-year-old Teagan, and 3-year-old Ryan, according to Fox 23. It’s unclear if the defendant has an attorney in this matter.
[Mugshot via Tulsa County Jail]
