Washer/Dryer Deaths

“A Yorkshire Terrier was found dead in a washing machine Wednesday, the day after one of its owners hosted a party at a Nantucket home” (After Nantucket House Party, Dog Found Dead in Washing Machine - the Boston Globe, 2008)

“IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — An Idaho Falls grandmother is issuing a warning to owners of front-load washing machines after her cat died in a tragic accident Thursday afternoon. Jamie Prestwich says her 3-year-old granddaughter put the black cat, named Addie, into the washer and turned the machine on.” (CNN Wire, 2017)

“As a teenager in suburban Baltimore 30 years ago — packing the car for a family trip — Burton heard his younger sister screaming from the basement. He raced downstairs. Inside the dryer was Tyson, the family cat — hot, shaking, bloody.”(Cohen, 2023)

“Toddlers trapped in front loading washing machines have made headlines recently. A Florida toddler playing with his sibling was trapped in a front-loading washer–he was pronounced dead at the hospital. Two months earlier, a two-year-old in China climbed into a washer for fun but she got stuck in the drum and her parents were unable to pull her out. It’s unfathomable that washing machine manufacturers haven’t designed a machine to prevent kids from climbing into these dangerous appliances” (Firm, 2019)

“(HOUSTON) A 3rd grade student found dead inside a dryer will be remembered by his friends and teachers when students return to school on Monday.” “I don't know what happened," said his mother, Christina Rodriguez. "I was just inside cooking and my little son came inside and told me my son was dead on the floor. She told KTRK her sons were playing hide-and-seek at the apartment complex where they live. She said she had just seen her son 30 minutes before another son came to tell her Fernando had died.”(KTRK / CNN Newsource / The Associated Press, 2018)

”The weekend death of a 2-year-old girl reported to have been found in a clothes dryer in the Waycross area is under investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.” (Times-Union, 2019)

”A four-year-old boy died after climbing into a tumble dryer in what is believed to be a game of hide-and-seek that went tragically wrong. Sonny Gibson was trapped in the machine for an hour while his family and police searched nearby fields for him thinking he had strayed from the house.When the search moved into their home in rural Ashbourne, Derbyshire, his mother discovered the little boy in the machine's drum. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police would not say whether the machine was on when he was found.”(Ellicott, 2010)

“A Colorado mother of three in July 2018 first warned in a Facebook post a horrific story:  she and her husband were woken early one morning by their four-year-old son. He was crying and barely able to tell them that his young sister was trapped in their LG front-loading washing machine that was tumbling and filling with water. Fortunately they unlocked the door and she escaped pretty much unscathed with a few minor bumps and bruises.” (Firm, 2019)