Tateona Williams is speaking out after her two children died while sleeping in a van in a Detroit parking garage.
According to the Detroit Police Department, the incident took place on Monday, February 10, on the ninth floor of the Hollywood Casino parking garage, where the family was seeking refuge inside the van. At the time, the temperature was below 32 degrees.
Williams, 29, told PEOPLE in an exclusive interview that the deceased are her children, Darnell Currie Jr., 9, and Amillah Currie, 2. The other adult in the van was Williams’ 48-year-old mother, Yvette Goodman. Williams had four children, including the two who died, and the fifth was Goodman’s son.
Williams spoke with PEOPLE alongside Detroit Board of Police Commissioner Tamara Liberty Smith, who also serves as the director of Detroit Power Detroit Community Outreach, the transitional housing service to which Williams was referred on Monday evening.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Feb. 11, Interim Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison stated that even before Williams, whom he did not identify by name, “realized that her 9-year-old son wasn’t breathing,” she had already “called a friend, another close relative, to help” because their vehicle had stopped running at some point in the night.
Williams told PEOPLE that when she awoke, she noticed “stuff coming out” of Darnell’s mouth and had him rushed to the hospital. “They really couldn’t do much because I guess it was too late,” she told me.
Williams explained that her mother, who had initially stayed behind, realized the 2-year-old wasn’t breathing and returned to take them to the hospital as well.
Authorities who were in contact with the family said they were later informed by the hospital that the two children had died.
Although the medical examiner will determine the official cause of death, police stated that “right now it appears it was exposure to hypothermia.” (While speaking with PEOPLE, Williams stated that she was told at the hospital that carbon monoxide could have been to blame, but that officials are still “unsure” of what happened and are awaiting the results of an official autopsy.)
The investigation is ongoing, and Bettison and Williams have confirmed that the three surviving children are with other relatives.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who was also present at the February 11 news conference, stated that “the heartbreaking part of this is that there were family shelter beds available just a few miles away,” and that the family had contacted the city’s homeless response team several times, most recently on November 25, 2024.
“In the course of that conversation there was no resolution reached on where they would go,” according to Duggan. “When you call our homeless services, we send out an outreach worker for emergencies…”For whatever reason, this was not considered an emergency, prompting an outreach worker to visit the family.”
He added that, based on what authorities could determine at the time, “the family never called back again for service,” and that no member of the response team contacted the family.
However, in her interview with PEOPLE, Williams stated that she “kept calling” homeless services after November 25.
“I kept calling.” I called out of state, cities, and different states. “I asked Detroit for assistance,” Williams explained. “And they still told me when I called that they didn’t have any beds. But it took the death of two of my children for them to want to help.
On November 25, Williams called Detroit’s Homeless Services, who informed her that no family rooms were available but would notify her when one became available. “They never did,” she told PEOPLE.
Smith told PEOPLE that Williams and her family faced a “unique” situation because shelters would have to make “special accommodations” for them. Smith stated that Williams and her family are staying at Detroit Power Detroit Community Outreach, an independently owned shelter.
In his news conference, the mayor asked Deputy Mayor Melia Howard and Housing and Revitalization Department Director Julie Schneider to provide a review of this case within two weeks.
