Parents Put A Space Heater In Son’s Room And Close the Door Then Never Checked On Him

#1 Looking at two-year-old, Braydon Barnes, it’s hard to believe his parents could ignore his cries for 38 hours straight.

2-year-old boy died in a home used as a methamphetamine lab after his parents left him alone in his room with a heater turned on and didn't check on him, police in Missouri said.

#2 Parents Kathleen Peacock and Lucas Barnes had been manufacturing methamphetamine in the home where their toddler son died, police said.

Braydon Barnes was put in his crib on a Friday and left unattended with a space heater on for more than 38 hours, St. Charles police said.

#3 Kathleen Peacock said that for over a day-and-a-half, she heard her son make noises and knew she should check on the toddler, but never did.

Both parents Kathleen Peacock and Lucas Barnes told police they had used methamphetamine recently. They told officers they had been manufacturing in the home the week preceding their son's death.

#4 The two were home all weekend as Braydon was shut in his room.

Peacock, who is currently pregnant, told police she heard Braydon make noises and knew that she should check on him but didn't. His frail body was discovered two days later by his father who just happened to check in on him after the weekend of making meth. Paramedics said the child had been dead for some time.

#5 The space heater has no thermostat and does not turn off automatically.

Autopsy results revealed that Braydon was generally malnourished and thin. His cause of death was hyperthermia due to the extreme heat, which would have "caused extreme discomfort and difficulty breathing as he died."

The National Institutes of Health describes hyperthermia as "an abnormally high body temperature caused by a failure of the heat-regulating mechanisms of the body to deal with the heat coming from the environment."

#6 Hyperthermia is cause by excessive HEAT, unlike Hypothermia, which is from the cold.

While hyperthermia among babies and toddlers isn't unheard of, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (MDHSS) claims senior citizens are normally most at risk to die from a heat-related illness.

MDHSS also found the 15 hyperthermia cases among children 5 years and younger to be caused by children left in a car or climbing into a parked vehicle during hot weather.

#7 If you suspect someone may be experiencing hyperthermia, try some of these guidelines to reduce the risk of death..

Get the person out of the heat and into a shady, air-conditioned or other cool place. Urge them to lie down.

Encourage the individual to shower, bathe or sponge off with cool water.

#8 Try to stay cool and get lots of cold liquids in your system.

If the person can swallow safely, offer fluids such as water, fruit and vegetable juices, but avoid alcohol and caffeine.

Apply a cold, wet cloth to the wrists, neck, armpits, and/or groin. These are places where blood passes close to the surface of the skin, and the cold cloths can help cool the blood.

#9 After further investigation, officials declared the house “uninhabitable” due to such poor living conditions.

Both parents are facing criminal charges of child abuse that resulted in death, and of manufacturing a controlled substance in a residence where a child resides.

Police say Peacock and Barnes confessed to using methamphetamine recently and say they'd been manufacturing it in their home two weeks before Braydon died.