Mother Charged in Deaths

The district attorney’s office has charged a 39-year-old Simi Valley woman with two counts of child endangerment after her two sons died strapped in the back seat of a hot minivan.

If convicted, Marlene Therese Heath faces a maximum state prison sentence of 12 years.

Her sons, 3-year-old Jake and 14-month-old Dylan, died of heat exhaustion after they were left unattended in the van outside their home for 3 1/2 hours. The outside temperature at the time was 90 degrees.

According to police, Heath left her home with her sons Saturday afternoon to attend a company picnic in Ventura but returned home for unknown reasons. She parked the van in the driveway and went inside the house, where she fell asleep about 2:30 p.m. and did not return until after 6 p.m.

The children sat in their child-safety seats behind the tinted, rolled-up windows of the Dodge van outside the family’s Ralston Avenue home during that time.

She apparently tried to resuscitate them before calling her husband at the Westlake Village car dealership where he works. He then dialed 911.

Heath was taken into custody later that day.

Both boys died of hyperthermia, according to the coroner’s office.

Police are investigating the possibility that Heath may have been under the influence of alcohol. She gave a blood sample at Simi Valley Hospital before being booked into Ventura County Jail. Her arraignment is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. today in Superior Court.