On February 28, 2016, Carrie and Larry Vollmer from Fort Worth, Texas, put their 17-month-old daughter to bed like it was any other night. She’d cried a little bit, but as usual, after a couple of minutes, she was asleep. Unfortunately for this happy family, however, they were about to discover something terrible the next morning that would change their lives forever.
The married couple had set up a happy home with their two children, Jackson, 3, and Sammy, 17 months. With everything in place, the four of them were leading an idyllic life. Carrie would likely never have believed that something so awful was lying in store for them. If you have not done so already, please subscribe to our channel and click that notification bell to get inspired by these real-life stories every day. Now back to the story.
It was Larry, Sammy’s father, who made the hellish discovery on the fateful day. Larry had to endure something that no parent should ever have to. He walked in to find his princess’s lifeless body in her crib. « The desperation and screeching panic in my husband’s voice the next morning as he went to retrieve her from upstairs is something I’ll never forget, » Carrie subsequently wrote on Facebook in April 2016. In the family home, Sammy’s bedroom was on the second floor, while her mother and father slept in the master bedroom downstairs. Sammy’s big brother, Jackson, had been having difficulty sleeping, so he joined them downstairs in their bedroom.
The next morning, Larry climbed the stairs to fetch his daughter, but he quickly realized that something was wrong when he felt the heat. « As soon as I got to the top of the stairs, it was very warm, I mean hot, » Larry told WFAA. But tragically, it was too late for Sammy. « I ran to her room, opened her door, and found her passed away, » Larry explained. The temperature on the two floors of the house had been controlled by different systems. When the family went to bed that night, the thermostat for the second floor was set at 72 degrees Fahrenheit. However, a malfunction in the coming hours would change the family’s lives forever.
By the following morning, the system’s error had allowed temperatures to skyrocket, leaving fragile Sammy to sleep in a bedroom that heated to well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. « The temperature registered 99 degrees on our thermostat, which was as high as it could go, meaning it was over a hundred degrees, » Carrie wrote. And despite attempts to resuscitate her, within less than an hour of Larry discovering her tiny body, Sammy was pronounced dead.
The Tarrant County medical examiner subsequently recorded the cause of death as hyperthermia from an elevated body temperature. The bereaved parents, meanwhile, were left wondering why they never heard Sammy cry. After doctors explained that Sammy had passed away in her sleep, the couple knew that their baby would not have been able to make a sound before her body failed. Further harrowing news came when doctors warned that, due to his age, had Jackson been in his usual bedroom that night, he could have died too. « Young children cannot regulate their own body temperature and don’t sweat as much as adults, which makes them more susceptible to overheating, » Dr. Todd Wolf, a pediatric emergency physician from Fort Worth, told a Star-Telegram.
Searching for an answer, Carrie replayed the events of the night before. She’d let Sammy say goodnight to her dad and then taken her up to the bedroom. After cradling Sammy in her sleep sack, Carrie had placed her daughter into the crib for what would be the last time. This sack was just one of the many ways in which Carrie had endeavored to keep her baby safe. In addition to keeping stuffed animals and pillows out of the crib, Carrie had also ensured that her babies had breathing monitors up until the age of 1. As a self-confessed warrior, Carrie really thought that she’d eliminated as many risks as possible.
Sadly, though, there was one risk that nobody had predicted. Upon preparing to become a mother, I read multiple books and stories on possible dangers that could harm babies and toddlers, » Carrie wrote. « I wish I’d read once about this one warning somewhere about heating systems. » Could have ensured that Carrie had kept the breathing monitor or invested in a thermometer, then perhaps everything could have been different.
Once they received the devastating news that Sammy’s death had been caused by a heating system malfunction, the Vollmers found a lawyer and began looking into legal action against the heater’s manufacturer. The family needed explanations; their baby had died a similar death to those left for too long in hot cars but had done so in the safety of her bedroom. And Carrie felt like she had to take action. Not long after the incident, Carrie began spending her evenings researching similar events online, and that was when she decided to set up a Facebook page in memory of her daughter, called « Remembering Sammy Joyce Vollmer. » Over the past year, the family has posted memorable stories, photos, and videos of their princess as they remember her.
Moreover, this Facebook page had an even more important purpose. Carrie’s aim is to spread Sammy’s story in the hope that this heartbreaking series of events never happens to anybody else. The pinned message on Sammy’s Facebook page ends with a plea to share the post. « We want others, especially those with two-story homes, to hear Sammy’s story so the children can be protected and other families are spared from the horrific grief we are forced to endure each day. » With more than 21,000 shares, Carrie’s initial Facebook post has since gone viral. People have reached out to her family expressing love and support, as well as sharing their own stories. It has also become clear that Sammy’s page could potentially save lives too.
Some of the nightmarish incidents that readers have shared with Carrie seem as distressing as her own story. On top of numerous close shaves, Carrie has heard about children turning blue and having to be thrown in the bathtub, as well as parents who have walked into bedrooms that are 90 degrees Fahrenheit. One thing’s for sure, Carrie’s experience was not unique.
Devastatingly, though, nothing will bring Sammy back, and for this devastated family, the nightmare will go on. « We missed her every second of the day, » Carrie told WFAA. « There’s a very large hole in our family without her here. » The door to Sammy’s bedroom is now always open; its white wooden crib still stands with plush toys filling the room. « I can’t stand to see the door closed, » Carrie explained to the Star-Telegram. « I don’t want to ever feel like we’ve forgotten about her. » If you like the video, please give it a thumbs up and consider sharing it with someone who may find it interesting.
