Kerr County mother arrested in death of her children

A 19-year-old Kerr County woman has been arrested in San Antonio on charges of Abandoning or Endangering a Child in an episode that led to the death of two toddlers called “horrific” by Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer.

Two counts on the charge were filed on Thursday, June 8, after a joint investigation conducted by the Kerrville Police Department, Texas Rangers, Child Protective Services and the Kerr County Sheriff's Office (KCSO). Amanda Kristine Hawkins, born Dec. 19, 1997, was arrested In San Antonio, and is in the Bexar County Jail awaiting transfer to Kerr County, the KCSO said in a press release Friday afternoon.

The investigation started after Hawkins, accompanied by a 16-year-old-male, showed up at Peterson Regional Medical Center with her two daughters identified as, Brynn Hawkins, a one-year-old, and Addyson Overgard-Eddy, a two-year-old, both in grave condition. The children were transferred to University Hospital in San Antonio.
Hawkins advised hospital personnel that she, the two girls, and the 16-year-old had been at Flat Rock Lake. She first said the girls had been smelling flowers but, when they got ready to leave, first the one-year-old collapsed and, shortly after that, the two-year-old also collapsed.
An investigation was begun by the four agencies that determined the two young girls had actually been left in their mother's vehicle, intentionally, for more than 15 hours. They had been in the car overnight, on June 6, and until around noon on June 7, while Hawkins and other friends were inside a residence, according to the report of the investigation.

Upon discovering the girls, the mother attempted to bath them and did not immediately want to take the girls to the hospital because she didn't want to get into trouble, the KCSO release said.

Both girls passed away around 5 p.m. on June 8 in San Antonio. the investigation is continuing and autopsies will be conducted by the Bexar County medical examiner's office on Friday.
“This is by far the most horrific case of child endangerment that I have seen in the 37 years that I have been in law enforcement,” said Sheriff Hierholzer. “Now, with the death of the girls, the charges could be upgraded after this case is presented to a Grand Jury.”

The case is to be handled by 216th Judicial District Attorney Lucy Wilke. Bonds on the current charges were set at $35,000 on each count.