Twin Toddlers Found Dead of Mysterious Cause

Toddler twins have been found dead in their rural mountain home without any apparent cause, authorities said Tuesday.

Sandy Dodge, the mother of the 14-month-old twins and five other children, said they were fine when she checked on them in their cribs at 7 a.m. Monday. When she checked on them again at noon, they were dead, she told Butte County sheriff’s detectives.

The twins were identified as Ashly and Brandy Montgomery. The father, Anthony Montgomery, was panning for gold in a nearby creek at the time, said Butte County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tony Burdine.

Detectives said there was no sign of foul play, no smell of gas and no sign of carbon monoxide poisoning. The twins were beyond the common age for crib deaths.

“Nothing here makes me suspicious,” Burdine said. “It’s just weird.”

The family lived in a well-kept home in a remote, wooded area off California 70 in the Feather River Canyon, about 15 miles southeast of Paradise.

A relative of the twins told detectives that one of the children had a cold or virus over the holidays but that neither was taking medication or had recently seen a doctor.

Authorities are awaiting autopsy results.