More than two months after being charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of 3-year-old twins in South Georgia, their former foster mother was granted bond, according to multiple media reports.
Claudette Foster was granted bond Wednesday in the amount of $50,000 cash or $100,000 property, the Liberty County-based newspaper Coastal Courier reported.
Hinesville police officers found Payton and Raelynn Keyes dead Sept. 29 in a parked car behind a home, AJC.com previously reported. They had been reported missing earlier that morning.
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Foster is accused of taking a nap and leaving the two girls unattended for about three hours while they were at her boyfriend’s home, according to arrest warrants obtained by the Coastal Courier.
While unattended, the twins crawled into the car in the backyard, the warrants said. An autopsy determined the deaths were caused by heatstroke, officials said.
The children's family created a GoFundMe page to cover funeral expenses.
The girls and their brothers had been removed from the home of their biological parents and had been in the foster care system since May 2018, the newspaper reported. The Division of Family and Children Services had allegedly told Foster not to leave the children with her boyfriend and not to spend the night at his house.
The girls’ deaths were initially ruled accidental, but the warrants for Foster’s arrest were issued Oct. 14. She turned herself in later that day, police said.
In addition to the murder charges, she faces two counts of second-degree child cruelty.
MORE: Foster parent arrested in deaths of 3-year-old twin sisters found inside car
The native of Jamaica had been denied bond twice because she was deemed a flight risk, the Coastal Courier reported. She bonded out Wednesday after her hearing, with the condition that she surrender her passport.
Her bond conditions also include that she can't leave the state, live with children, drink alcohol to the point of intoxication and must follow a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew, according to Savannah-based news station WSAV-TV.
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