The father of one of the two sisters who died after she was left in a hot car on a 31C day said the little girls were ‘two peas in a pod’.
Darcey and Chloe-Ann Conley, aged one and two, were found inside their mother Kerri-Ann Conley’s car outside their home in Logan City, south of Brisbane at 1.30pm on Saturday.
Neither of the girls could be revived and were declared dead on the scene.
Kerri-Ann was charged with two counts of murder late on Saturday night after speaking with police for hours.
Darcey’s father, who wanted to remain anonymous, told The Courier Mail the girls were inseparable and would’ve grown up to be the best of friends if they were given the chance.
A friend of the family released these photos of Darcey (right) and Chloe (left) after the girls died on Saturday
Darcey’s father, who wanted to remain anonymous said the girls were inseparable and would’ve grown up to be the best of friends if they were given the chance. Pictured: Darcey and Chloe
‘They giggled all the time, the pair of them. Although they were 12 months apart, Chloe wasn’t really that far behind Darcey. I think she learnt a lot off Darcey, mannerisms.’
The man fathered Darcey, but said he thought of himself as a father figure to Chloe as well.
‘Chloe, every time you looked at her, she just had a smile from ear to ear.
‘They were just two peas in a pod. They would have been inseparable when they got older. Unfortunately we don’t get to see them grow into beautiful young people,’ he said.
He said Kerri-Ann loved the girls dearly as police investigate whether the young mother had drugs in her system at the time.
Neighbours previously told the publication the girls, who were reportedly left in the black Mazda 6 station wagon for up to seven hours, were ‘gorgeous little girls’.
‘They were always dressed beautifully and just happy little girls…. They were always out in the yard playing,’ the woman said.
Kerri-Ann Conley (pictured) was charged with two counts of murder after her daughters died when they were left in the car on a hot day
Flower bouquets and stuffed animals are seen outside the Logan home were two young sisters died on Saturday
The mother of the two sisters was charged with two counts of murder. Pictured: The car the girls were allegedly left to die in
Children’s toys are seen sprawled in the front yard behind the front fence of the house in Waterford West, Logan
A woman pays tribute to the young victims, aged one and two, on Sunday morning
A boy leaves stuffed toys at the front of the Waterford West to remember the two sisters who died on Sunday
Members of the local community visited the home on Logan Reserve Road, in Waterford West, to remember the girls on Sunday morning.
Flower bouquets and stuffed animals were placed on the grass below the front fence, which is lined with police tape amid investigations into the deaths.
Tributes for the young girls also poured in online after their tragic deaths.
‘Fly high little babies. So sad,’ one person wrote.
‘Sad to hear… RIP little angels… thoughts with the service members that found the kids,’ another commented.
Kerri-Ann is due to appear at Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday.
Police remain at the home and are putting together a timeline to confirm how long they had been in the car, which was parked across the front yard.
One neighbour claimed her grandson recalled seeing the children in the car at 6.30am, seven hours before they were found.
Queensland Police Detective Inspector Mark White said the children died from extreme heat exposure.
‘Paramedics made attempts to revive those children, unfortunately they were both declared deceased at the scene,’ he told reporters in a press conference.
‘The two children showed evidence of being exposed to extreme heat.’
‘It’s tragic and we are putting a lot of emphasis on supporting our staff, because they do a very difficult job,’ he said.
A police officer takes a photo of the car at the Waterford West home amid investigations on Sunday
Detectives are seen at the home on Logan Reserve Road in Waterford West on Sunday
Pictured: Tributes for the two sisters sit below the mail box and police tape lined across the front fence
The mother of the two girls, aged one and two, was charged on Saturday night. Pictured: The car the two girls were found in
Police crews remained at the scene in Logan, near Brisbane, on Sunday morning. The girls were found on Saturday
Investigators pull at the police tape lined across the home where two sisters were found dead in a car
Another neighbour told the Courier Mail that her granddaughters saw the girls’ bodies being carried out of the house after being splashed with water to cool them down.
‘My granddaughters saw the babies being carried out of the house soaking wet,’ she said.
‘It is a tragic accident, she was a good mum.’
Conley had reportedly moved into the home about six months ago.
It is the same property that police searched when investigating the murder of Beenleigh schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer, 12, in 2015.
Detectives leave the Waterford West home on Sunday with items gathered from inside the property
Police were at the home of the two sisters on Sunday where they gathered information amid investigations
At least two ambulance crews were called to Logan Road in Logan (pictured) on Saturday
Police forensics (pictured) examine a vehicle outside a property in Logan, south of Brisbane
Emergency services were called to the Waterford West property at 1.35pm on Saturday
Officers were searching for links between Tiahleigh and the then-occupants but did not find any before her foster father pleaded guilty in 2018.
Temperatures reached highs of 31C in Logan on Saturday.
Emergency services rescue more than 2,000 unattended children in cars each year.
The temperature inside a parked car can be more than 30 degrees hotter than outside the car, according to the NRMA.
Up to 75 per cent of the temperature increase occurs within five minutes of the car being closed.
‘A child left in a parked car under those conditions for even a few minutes can very quickly become distressed, dehydrated and can die from organ failure,’ the NRMA website states.
The girls, aged one and two, were found unresponsive and paramedics desperately tried to revive them but they were too late. Pictured: The car