TIANA MILLS - 3 yo - (6/2013) Brooklyn, NY

Medical Examiner rules mysterious death of 3-year-old Brooklyn girl was a homicide caused by hyperthermia 



The Medical Examiner determined that the hyperthermia that claimed the life of Tiana Mills on June 25, 2013 was brought on by dehydration and malnourishment

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, January 15, 2014, 3:59 PM

Uncle of 3-year-old girl who died in Brooklyn found her twin scavenging for food
EXCLUSIVE: Philip Simmons — uncle of Tiana Mills, who was found dead of hyperthermia on a 91-degree day in Brooklyn in June — tells The News he was surprised when he came to the house to find Tiana's twin, Arianna, foraging for food. Moments later, he made another frightening discovery: Tiana lying facedown upstairs. 'I called 911. My mother started bursting out in tears. I said, 'She looks dead,' ' he said.

Updated: Friday, January 17, 2014, 4:42 AM

Nearly six months after finding his 3-year-old niece dying from starvation, Philip Simmons says he’s haunted by the image of the little girl in pigtails and a pink outfit lying facedown on the floor.

Simmons said he found Tiana Mills in an upstairs bedroom of his family’s Brooklyn home after noticing the girl’s dehydrated twin sister hunting for food and milk in the kitchen.

But by the time he discovered Tiana on June 23, it was too late.

Now officials are calling her death a particularly cruel homicide and want to know how she became fatally malnourished in a house full of relatives.

“I was in shock,” Simmons, 21, told the Daily News on Thursday. “I called 911. My mother started bursting out in tears. I said, ‘She looks dead.’ ”

A short time later, Tiana’s brief life ended at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.

An autopsy Tuesday revealed she was starved before her shocking death on a 91-degree summer day. The cause of death: hyperthermia brought on by malnourishment and dehydration. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, although no one has been arrested.

The Brooklyn district attorney and police were investigating to see if charges were viable in the demise of the typically upbeat little girl.

Simmons, who lives in the home, described how the dead girl’s grandmother and another uncle were in the house when emergency workers arrived around 7:45 a.m. to find the child barely breathing.

“I ran to my mother and brother,” he recalled. “How did nobody see this?”

Grandmom Arlene Simmons, who was baby-sitting, was asleep after popping a painkiller at 6 a.m. for her bad back. Philip Simmons’ oblivious twin brother was on his laptop and wearing headphones.

“She was always happy, smiling,” Philip Simmons said of Tiana. “She loved to play.”

Simmons, who works the overnight shift at a 7-Eleven, said he knew something was amiss that Sunday morning when he found Tiana’s identical twin Arianna foraging for a snack.

The twin, herself dehydrated, was hopelessly fiddling with a pineapple and a carton of milk when Simmons arrived. She was all by herself in the kitchen.

“She was trying to get in the refrigerator,” he told The News. “She was trying to get something to drink. This is unusual. I ran upstairs.”

There he found Tiana, wearing a pink shirt and lying on the floor. It was the first time Simmons, after working all weekend, had seen his niece.
This home in Bushwick, Brooklyn, is where 3-year-old Tiana Mills died of hyperthermia in June, a case police are calling a homicide.

Simmons — whose older brother Errol Simmons, 36, had custody of the twins — defended his family. Errol, the girls’ father, was working at a Fairway supermarket at the time of Tiana’s death.

The dead girl’s father and grandmother were questioned by police.

“I don’t see how it could be a homicide case,” said Philip Simmons. “The kids were always happy. (Errol) always was responsible. It really doesn’t make sense to me.

“My mother always raised us right,” he continued. “She taught us right from wrong. I know my brother took good care of them.”

The dad received custody of the twins in December 2011, when their mother was labeled a mentally unfit parent, law enforcement sources told The News.

The circumstances loosely parallel those in last week’s torture death of Myls Dobson, the 4-year-old who authorities say was starved and beaten after his unfit mom lost custody.

Surviving twin Arianna was hospitalized with dehydration, said Philip Simmons. She was removed from the Brooklyn home after her sister’s death taken to the residence of another relative, law enforcement sources said.

An Administration for Children’s Services spokesman, in an earlier statement, said the agency was closely cooperating with prosecutors “to learn the circumstances that led to the sad death of this little girl.”

The agency declined comment Thursday, citing the “confidentiality involved in these cases.”

Neighbors said there was no indication that the twins were mistreated, describing the pair as well-dressed and tended to by family members.

The girls’ dad was devastated by the death of Tiana and the removal of Arianna from her home.

“He dealt with it hard,” said Simmons. “I can’t read anybody’s mind. I don’t know what’s going on with him. He’s really devastated.”

According to Simmons, the family was allowed a Christmas visit with Arianna about three weeks ago to give her presents. He said he feels for the lone twin.

“I know she’s going to be sad when she gets older and finds out,” he said.

Relatives don’t appear bothered by the homicide ruling because no one feels they committed any crime.

“You don’t feel afraid when you’re innocent,” said Simmons. “They are not afraid. (The grandmother) is just sad about the baby.”

But Philip Simmons says unanswered questions linger.

“God knows,” he says when asked how Tiana died. “I really wasn’t here.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/uncle-found-dead-girl-twin-scavenging-food-article-1.1582035#commentpostform

I was just looking for a picture and found the above article with more family details. So happy the sister was found but how sad for her to grow up without her sibling.

What a beautiful little girl.  How sad.

I will never be able to wrap my head around these murders.