Mom finds boys dead

The New Port Richey brothers die at home under mysterious circumstances.

By CAMILLE C. SPENCER
Published July 10, 2007

	A minivan is towed from the home's garage Monday as authorities investigate two deaths at a home on Casswell Drive in New Port Richey.
[Times photo: Brendan Fitterer]

NEW PORT RICHEY – It's summer, and the boys liked to stay up late playing video games.

But when their mother checked on them Monday morning, she found her two oldest boys, ages 12 and 14, still in bed.

Vomit pooled in their mouths.

No sign of breathing.

Bodies "cold as ice."

That's what the mother told a 911 operator when she frantically called for help about 9:37 a.m., according to a tape of the call. Paramedics rushed to the peach and white duplex on Casswell Drive. But authorities say the boys were already dead.

In the garage sat the family's purple minivan, police said. Key in the ignition. Gas tank empty.

The find led neighbors in Gulf Harbor Villas to speculate about possible carbon monoxide poisoning, but New Port Richey police did not release a cause of death by Monday evening. They hauled away the van.

"It's too early to say," said New Port Richey Assistant Chief Darryl Garman, "but we're not ruling anything out."

As a precaution, police checked neighbors' homes for unusual odors, although carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas.

"We don't know if their carbon monoxide alarms were operating," Garman said.

Police didn't find any evidence of foul play or trauma to the boys' bodies. They withheld the identities of the two boys and their mother on Monday, pending notification of relatives.

But neighbors identified the woman as Barbara Beauvais, the 14-year-old as Jules Baudin, and the 12-year-old as Parker Baudin. They said the family had been displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

The mother was taken to an undisclosed hospital for injuries that were not life threatening, Garman said. A third boy, identified by neighbors as 8-year-old Logan, had spent the night at a friend's house and was fine.

The family dog, a Shih Tzu named Bosley, was also removed from the house.

"His tongue was hanging out ... he was falling down," said Stacy Yalacki, a neighbor.

A paramedic gave the dog oxygen, Yalacki said. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals told Yalacki that a veterinarian checked him out and that he would be okay.

Garman said the dog was fine.

The family had lived in the house for about a year, said Chris Roy, a neighbor. Beauvais was a stay-at-home mom. Her husband did construction work in New Orleans, Roy said.

Garman said the husband flew home from New Orleans on Monday so he could break the news to the youngest son, who had been placed in the custody of the Department of Children and Families.

Gulf Middle School principal Stanley Trapp confirmed Monday that Jules and Parker both attended the school this past school year.

Yalacki, a single mother who befriended Beauvais, said her 11-year-old son, Bryce, was friends with Parker.

The boys often played video games and rode their bikes in the neighborhood, she said.

"It makes me feel terrible for her, to find your children like that," Yalacki said.

Yalacki wondered how to tell her son what happened to Parker and his brother.

On Monday evening, a transcript of the 911 tape flashed across Yalacki's TV screen.

She covered her mouth and sobbed.

Times staff writer Jamal Thalji contributed to this report. Camille C. Spencer can be reached at cspencer@sptimes.com or (727) 869-6229.

[Last modified July 10, 2007, 00:46:04]