The chubby cheeks and bright eyes of the missing Rodriguez twins stare out from photos lining their mantles, keeping an eye on rows of brightly colored Christmas stockings as the family prepares for a fourth holiday without them.
But amid the ghosts and pain that will forever haunt a Rockland County couple after 1-year-olds Luna and Phoenix were tragically forgotten, and died, in their father’s car, new life has emerged.
Marissa Quattrone Rodriguez and her husband, Juan, 43, have welcomed not one but two new daughters since the July 2019 horror.
“When I got pregnant again, it felt like a sign to keep hope alive,” Quattrone Rodriguez, 41, told The Post.
“[The girls] has been the hope we need to carry us on.”
Along with two new socks for their daughter — one due in 2020 and the other in August — reminders of Luna and Phoenix are everywhere, especially at Christmas.
Pictures of their toothless smiles, or the twins playing in the grass, adorn ornaments hung from their tree, while another in the shape of angel wings hangs from a branch above a shadow box featuring two small white high chairs.
Luna and Phoenix were killed when their father didn’t realize he had left them in the backseat of his car while he was at work one day in July 2019. Marissa Quattrone Rodriguez
Next to the empty seat in the ornate box was a heartbreaking message:
“Christmas in Heaven/What are they doing?/They come down to Earth/To spend it with you/Save them a seat/Just two empty seats/You might not see them/But they’ll be there.”
“When we first lost our twins, I didn’t know where to turn and I didn’t want to talk to anyone. . . . I didn’t talk to friends, family, or anyone who reached out trying to help. I just don’t care about anything,” said Quattrone Rodriguez.
Along with two new socks for their daughter — one due in 2020 and the other, in August — reminders of Luna and Phoenix are everywhere, especially at Christmas. Courtesy of the Rodriguez family
Juan Rodriguez, a father of five, is still “not in the right headspace” to talk about the loss.
She was supposed to drop her baby off at daycare, but instead, drove to her job in the Bronx with Luna and Phoenix in the back seat.
He left them in the car on a hot day, unaware of the fatal mistake until he turned up eight hours later.
Pictures of the twins’ toothless smiles, or of them playing in the grass, adorn an ornament hanging from Rodriguez’s tree, while another in the shape of angel wings hangs from a branch. Courtesy of the Rodriguez family
He was initially arrested but later acquitted.
“It’s too much for him most of the time,” explained Quattrone Rodriguez.
Along with their 3-year-old and 4-month-old daughter, the couple has an 8-year-old son, as well as a 16-year-old daughter and 21-year-old son from Juan’s previous relationship.
Under Rodriguez’s Christmas tree, next to an empty seat, and inside an ornate box, was a heartbreaking message. Courtesy of the Rodriguez family
To cope, the couple became advocates, pushing for laws to prevent children from dying in hot cars while counseling others who find themselves on the same hellish journey.
So far in 2023, 28 children have died of heat stroke in the United States after being left in a car, according to data collected by NoHeatStroke.org. In 2022, 33 people died in the same way.
This summer, Quattrone Rodriguez consoled an Australian father who had lost his own son in a similar manner a few months earlier.
“When we first lost our twins, I didn’t know where to turn and I didn’t want to talk to anyone,” said their mother, Marissa Quattrone Rodriguez. New York Post
“I regularly speak to dozens of other parents around the country who have experienced similar losses, and I will continue to make myself available to those who want someone to talk to about it. We hope to avoid this tragedy, but I am also here for those who are grieving now,” he said.
In 2019, the Rodriguezes traveled to Washington DC to push for the passage of the Hot Car Act, which would require the Secretary of Transportation to force all new cars to have child safety warning systems that would alert drivers when children are left behind.
“Tragedies like this can be avoided with the help of new technology that can be placed in vehicles very easily,” emphasized Quattrone Rodriguez.
This summer, Marissa Quattrone Rodriguez comforted an Australian father who lost his son just as their family had lost twins a few months earlier. Marissa Quattrone Rodriguez
The bill has languished, but the Rodriguezes continue the fight.
Advocacy “has been the thing that has helped us the most,” Quattrone Rodriguez said.
But others cruelly will not let the family move forward.
Quattrone Rodriguez refuses to share details or pictures of her surviving children, fearing online trolls and others who outlandishly accuse them of having more children to “replace” Luna and Phoenix.
Marissa Quattrone Rodriguez refuses to share details or pictures of her surviving children, fearing online trolls and others who outlandishly accuse them of having more children to “replace” Luna and Phoenix. Facebook Juan Rodriguez
Some still don’t understand how Juan Rodriguez could make such a big mistake.
“Unfortunately, people will still automatically say, ‘How could you forget?’ and ‘How stupid are you?’ and they don’t understand that this kind of tragedy can happen to anyone,” said Quattrone Rodriguez.
“It’s hard. Every day is still hard. . . . But I feel like I see and feel signs from Luna and Phoenix, and they are still with me,” he said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
