DETROIT – Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced on Wednesday that her office will not charge the mother of the two children who died nearly one year ago from carbon monoxide poisoning while living in a van parked at the Greektown Casino parking garage.
“There will be no criminal charges in this case,” Worthy said in a statement. “However, we remain very concerned about the welfare of the remaining living children.”
The nightmarish incident began in the overnight hours of Feb. 10, 2025, a brutally cold night with temperatures in the teens and subzero wind chills.
The children’s mother parked her van, which they had been living out of at the time, on the ninth floor of the parking garage. Inside the van were five kids -- including 2-year-old Amillah and 9-year-old Darnell–– as well as two other girls, ages 4 and 8, and a 13-year-old boy.
At some point, the van ran out of gas. It was nearly 12 hours later, around 1 p.m., that the woman noticed Darnell was not breathing.
She called a friend who took them to Children’s Hospital.
While they were there, the kids’ grandmother called and said that little Amillah had also stopped breathing, and she was rushed to the hospital.
Both kids were later pronounced dead. A month later, the Wayne County Medical Examiner ruled both deaths accidental and concluded they died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Both deaths were ruled accidental.
The announcement of no charges comes nearly a year after the children’s deaths put a national spotlight on Detroit’s homelessness response system.
Then-Mayor Mike Duggan launched a seven-point plan to address gaps in the system. The family had reached out to the city on Nov. 25, 2024, but no resolution was reached throughout the conversation.
“Having services available doesn’t mean very much if the residents who need them don’t know how to access them,” Duggan said on Feb. 11, 2025. “Are we doing everything to make sure that people in this city know how to access this critical care?”
The family had lived in the van for the previous three months.
When a situation is deemed an emergency, the city will send an outreach worker to the site, but for whatever reason, this situation wasn’t deemed an emergency.
Duggan said the mother never called back after that, and the homeless services staff never followed up with the family.
In the year since, outside organizations stepped in to help the family, and the city has made more resources readily available for the city’s homeless and housing-insecure.
“While we, like many others, were heartened about the number of people and organizations that stepped in to help this family, we hope that those efforts will continue,” Worthy said. “And that those who are truly empowered to protect these children will continue to do so diligently.”
If you or someone you know is currently without a place to stay and needs help, you can click this link or call the city of Detroit’s housing resource hotline at 866-313-2520.