COLUMBIA – A Blythewood parent will not be charged in the death of 20-month old twin boys who died after being left in a hot car for more than nine hours, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said during a press conference Tuesday morning.
“It didn’t happen on purpose,” Lott said. “He (the father) didn’t mean to do it. God, he didn’t mean to do it. He’s got to live with this for the rest of his life.”
Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford disclosed on Sept. 2, that the identical twins brothers, Brayden and Brycen McDaniel, had likely died of hyperthermia. That was confirmed in the Tuesday press conference.
Lott said an investigation into the deaths determined it was an accident.
“We did an intensive investigation,” he said. “No questions left unanswered.”
Lott said the father went to the Sunshine House Early Learning Academy about 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 1, to pick up the twins who were enrolled in the day care, and was told the twins were not there.
“He (the father) went to look for them. He went back to the car and that’s when he found them,” Lott said. “He did some things to try to save them, but it was too late.”
Deputies and EMS were called and paramedics pronounced the twins dead at the scene.
According to Rutherford, the twins died of a type of hyperthermia.
“A body temperature of 104 or 105 can cause febrile seizures and death, so with the heat index in that care at 120, as we believe, so it didn’t take long.
Rutherford asked the community to pray for the twins’ family.
Brayden Sha’Ron Ashford McDaniel 
Brycen George Ashford McDaniel
BLYTHEWOOD – Prince Brycen George Ashford McDaniel and Prince Brayden Sha’Ron Ashford McDaniel were beacons of light that came in to this world on December 23, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina. Their parents, Elmore and LaTrice, couldn’t have ask for anything more beautiful and precious than those angelic little “Sweet Peas.” Their earthly presence brought blissful delight to everyone who came in contact with their happy little spirits. They departed this life peacefully together on September 1, 2021.
Brycen and Brayden enjoyed learning with their teachers and playing with their friends at the Sunshine House.
They were fun-loving little boys, with smiles that could light up an entire room. They enjoyed laughing, giving wet kisses, singing, listening to their Daddy and PaPa play jazzy tunes on the saxophone and dancing to music from Earth, Wind and Fire and Frankie Beverly and Maze. Yes, they were wise way beyond their years.
They were preceded in death by: their grandparents, Sharon Miller Jamison, Sallie K. McDaniel and Elmore Ashford.
Brycen and Brayden leaves to mourn their passing: loving parents, Elmore Ashford McDaniel and LaTrice Jamison McDaniel of Blythewood , SC; sisters, Alayisha McDaniel, Morgan McDaniel and Maddison McDaniel of Blythewood, SC; brother, Blake Elmore Ashford McDaniel of Blythewood; grandfather, George Jamison of Summerville, SC; special grandparents, Barbara and (PaPa) John Wright of Orangeburg, SC; aunts; Joann Johnson, Sandra Jean McDaniel, Jerometha McDaniel, Mary Vivian McDaniel, Trician Davis and Christie(Earl) Hudgins, all of Columbia; uncles, Christopher G. (LaTowya) Jamison of Summerville, SC, Frankie J. McDaniel, and Lawrence Ashford of Columbia; God sister, Shadai K. English of Blythewood, SC; and a host of loving relatives and dear friends who will always cherish their beautiful memories.
Obituary: Bostick-Tompkins Funeral Home
