CBS2 Exclusive: 'I'm Still In Shock' -- Parents Return To Site Of Deadly Radiator Accident
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) --A heartbroken family returned home on Friday.
CBS2's Dave Carlin got an exclusive look at the Bronx apartment, where two children were killed when a radiator exploded.
Peter and Danielle Ambrose returned to the scene of unspeakable heartbreak -- the first floor apartment at 720 Hunts Point Avenue where their daughters -- 1-year-old Scylee Vayoh Ambrose and her 2-year-old sister, Ibanez Ambrose -- died. Friends were there to offer comfort as they moved out and attempt to move forward, CBS2's Jessica Layton reported.
Without any comment, and with police officer escorts, the Ambroses went in and out with belongings they loaded into a pickup truck.
"I got no words, because I was here with them when it happened, and I'm still in shock," Philip Arias said.
Arias is the family friend who brought CBS2 inside. He said Peter Ambrose told him to give what's left behind in the apartment to charity.
He said that includes two cribs used by sisters.
They'd sleep in the side by side cribs, inches from the spot where the radiator used to be. The very one that was ripped from the home after the girls' deaths.
Only a few items were taken out by the parents including a pet turtle.
"I did take two dolls or something, that's about it," Arias said.
Some neighbors said they're having a hard time sleeping, and they say it doesn't help that there are some reminders of what happened like crime scene tape, and notices that other things about the building remain unsafe.
"Trying to keep it together, that's what we're doing," Arias said.
The parents gave the children's clothes to another friend and neighbor Annie Martinez.
"She said, you can have all of the clothes, all of us in the building that we can take it," Martinez said.
The Ambrose family moved to New York from Maine, but told Arias they will likely settle in California.
Meanwhile, the close community has been gathering to light candles at this memorial for the girls that grows by the day. Neighbors have to balance their sadness while demanding safety from landlords and the city.
Other residents said they've had problems with the heat. The family that lived upstairs put in a complaint about their radiators in July, they said it took 5 months to get fixed.