Update, June 27, 11:30 p.m.: A Medford mother was been charged with the murder of her twin 2-year-old daughters, Suffolk County police announced late Thursday night. Tenia Campbell, 24, was taken into custody in Montauk County Park earlier that afternoon.
County police said that Ms. Campbell's mother called 911 at about 2:30 p.m. to report that her daughter was threatening to kill herself and her twin daughters. A county-wide search ensued, which included, according to Suffolk police, their officers, New York State police, Suffolk County Park Rangers, Southampton Town police and East Hampton Town police.
East Hampton Town police officers found Ms. Campbell's vehicle, a Chrysler Town and Country, at the entrance to the Third House Nature Center at Montauk County Park, which is located at 1929 Montauk Highway, just past East Lake Drive, at about 4:05 p.m. The two children, identified by police as Jasmine and Jaida Campbell, were not breathing.
Police took Ms. Campbell into custody. Officers performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation in an attempt to save the children. Montauk Fire Department ambulance personnel took over the life-saving efforts and transported Jasmine and Jaida to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
The Suffolk County Medical Examiner will conduct autopsies to determine the exact cause of death for each girl.
Ms. Campbell is being held at East Hampton Town Police headquarters, where Suffolk County homicide detectives charged her with two counts of second-degree murder. She will be arraigned in East Hampton Town Justice Court on Friday.
Originally: Two-year-old twin girls died after they were found unconscious in their mother's minivan at Third House Nature Center in Montauk County Park on Thursday afternoon, Suffolk County police said.
Suffolk police said they received a 911 call earlier Thursday afternoon about a possibly suicidal Medford woman driving in a blue vehicle with her two children.
"Following an extensive search that spanned from Medford to Montauk," police said, the woman's vehicle — a 2001 Chrysler Town & Country — was found in the park around 3:45 p.m.
"The children were located inside the vehicle in cardiac arrest and were transported to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital where they were pronounced dead," police said in a statement. They did not indicate how the children died.
East Hampton Town police took the girls' mother, whose name has not been released, into custody at the park.
The county homicide squad is investigating. Police kept Montauk Highway at East Lake Drive closed.
Two Montauk Fire Department ambulances were seen racing west in East Hampton Village toward the hospital at about 4:15 p.m.
A medevac helicopter that had been called to Montauk earlier was canceled. Patients in cardiac arrest cannot be airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital.
This is a developing story. Updates will be posted as soon as they are received.