911 tapes were released Thursday which contained the voices of Mike Kile, who lived at an Armstrong Road address, and 911 operations manager Kris Willis.
Leland Bates, 5, and River Bates, 3, had reportedly been playing in the yard of their Keith Valley Road residence June 28. A call to 911 just before 3 p.m. indicated the two boys had been taken to her father’s home on Armstrong Road and they had possibly drowned, according to initial reports.
Natasha Moses Bates, 26, has been charged with two counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated child abuse/endangerment, four counts of initiation of manufacture of methamphetamine, and one count of promotion of methamphetamine manufacture. The drug charges are the result of detectives returning to the home on Keith Valley Road on July 13 under search warrant after receiving information of possible drug activity, according to Bob Gault, media relations coordinator for the Bradley County Sheriff’s Office which is in charge of the investigation.
Investigators believed the children had been in a confined space prior to their mother discovering what had happened to them.
Natasha Bates had reportedly let the children play outside.
“Through investigation and statements, investigators found reason to believe the boys died in a car and an autopsy ruled the cause of death to be from hyperthermia,” Gault said earlier this week following Bates’ indictment by a Bradley County grand jury.
Medical investigators confirmed the boys’ body core temperatures were greater than 105 degrees.
Extreme heat was being experienced in the Southeast as daytime temperatures reached into the triple digits.
While CPR was reportedly being performed by Natasha Bates inside the house, Kile was speaking with 911’s Willis from outside the house, as she directed emergency first responders to the scene on Armstrong Road where the children had been taken.
According to 911 recordings, Willis kept giving instructions to Kile who relayed them to Natasha Bates. CPR and chest compressions were given while Kile had to stay outside due to poor cellphone service.
Willis continued to collect information from her dispatching station at the 911 Emergency Center about what had happened.
“Is there anything ... anything poison they could have got?” Kile asked Natasha.
She answered Kile’s question, stating no, according to the recordings.
Willis asked if the children’s tongues were swollen and if they could have been bitten by anything.
Kile relayed the question, then stated “both are red.”
Kile then stated the children were turning purple.
Emergency first responders arrived and questioned what had happened to the boys, according to the audio release of the incident.
“Why are they so wet? Was there a pool or something?” the responder asked.
Kile answered, “There is a Slip-and-Slide.”
Kile then asked Natasha Bates if the boys were playing in the water on the Slip-and-Slide.
The audio portion of the conversation was inaudible and Bates could be heard crying in the background.
River Bates was pronounced dead a short time later, and Leland Bates died the day after the incident.
Bates is scheduled to appear in Bradley County Criminal Court on Aug. 13.
