Advertisement

CHILDREN'S DEATHS RULED ACCIDENTAL

 
Published Sept. 19, 2009|Updated Sept. 21, 2009

Hillsborough County's medical examiner released autopsy reports Friday for two young children who died at Brandon Region Hospital on Aug. 13 after arriving with unnaturally high body temperatures.

Eighteen-month-old Zionna Ervin and 5-month-old Kaden Warren's deaths were ruled accidental. The report said the children had hyperthermia from being left in a hot environment.

Hillsborough County sheriff's detectives have charged the children's father, Michael Jon Ervin Jr., with two counts of aggravated manslaughter of a child.

Ervin, 26, of 3807 Ridgeview Place in Valrico, had custody of the children the entire day of their deaths, detectives said.

According to the medical examiner's initial case summary:

The children's mother, Enidlin Warren, heard crying at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 13 when she called Ervin on his cell phone. Warren, 24, told investigators she tried calling back several times but didn't hear from Ervin until 2:30 p.m. when he called to tell her "something was wrong with the babies, they're not breathing."

He told her he was driving somewhere in Seffner and then drove the children to the hospital. Hospital workers said the children's hearts were not pumping and their skin was hot and dry to the touch.

Zionna's temperature was 109.3 degrees and Kaden's was 105.6 degrees.

Ervin was released from the Orient Road jail on Sept. 9 after posting $200,000 bail.