2 toddlers die after vehicle submerges

TAMAROA -- Two toddlers died after the truck they were in rolled into a southern Illinois lake and authorities said Wednesday the siblings' deaths were under investigation.

Autopsies were scheduled on the 22-month-old and 3-year-old children, whose names were not released. No charges have been filed in the case.

The kids' mother, Bridgett Radake, 36, told police she left her 1991 Ford pickup truck to retrieve mail on Tuesday night when one of the children apparently shifted the vehicle into drive, sending it rolling into a private pond near their home.

Perry County Sheriff Keith Kellerman said officials responding to a 911 call about 8 p.m. found Radake's two teenage sons trying to rescue the children from about 10 feet of water.

A sheriff's deputy pulled the children from the truck and they were transported to Marshal Browning Hospital in DuQuoin, where they were pronounced dead.

The Department of Children and Family Services has had contact with the family in the past, Kellerman said. A message left for a DCFS spokesman after business hours Wednesday was not immediately returned.

There was no telephone listing for a Bridgett Radake in Illinois.