Texas woman pleads guilty to leaving 2 toddlers in car until they died

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Amanda Kristene Hawkins, 20, faces up to 20 years in prison for the 2017 incident. Photo courtesy of Kerr County Jail

By Ray Downs, UPI

A Texas woman on Monday pleaded guilty to abandoning her two toddlers in a locked car for several hours, leading to their death.

Before her trial was set to begin, Amanda Kristene Hawkins pleaded guilty to two counts of abandoning a child, causing imminent danger of death, bodily injury or physical or mental impairment; and two counts of injury to a child, recklessly causing serious bodily injury or serious mental deficiency.

Hawkins faces between two to 20 years in prison. She will be sentenced on Dec. 12.

On June 7, 2017, Hawkins was arrested after her two daughters -- Addyson Overgard-Eddy, 2, and Brynn Hawkins, 1 -- were found dead in her car after she left them inside throughout the night of June 6 until noon the next day.

Outside temperatures that morning reached 86.6 degrees. But inside an enclosed vehicle, temperatures likely reached approximately 119 degrees, the Kerrville Daily Times reported.

Hawkins had been visiting a friend's home all night. People inside the home told police they heard children crying inside the car, but nobody went to check on the toddlers.

Kerr County District Attorney Lucy Wilke said Hawkins agreed to the plea deal in exchange for the state not pressing charges for a weapon that was fond in the car, Hill Country Breaking News reported.