Badly decomposed remains of a Florida mom and twin children found in a car, family says drug use might be to blame

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Florida police said that they found the badly decomposed remains of a mother and her twin children who had died in a car outside an apartment complex.

Melbourne Police said they were called to a report of a suspicious vehicle parked outside of the Manatee Cove Apartments complex at about 10:50 p.m. on Sunday. The caller said the windows were fogged up.

When they arrived, they found the remains of an adult and two children inside a Cadillac parked near garbage bins.

They later identified the mother as Andrea Langhorst, 35, of St. Lucie County, and the two children as Olivia and Adam Dryer, who were three years old.

Police said they believed the family was living in the van transiently down the east coast of Florida. Autopsies for the three are scheduled with the Brevard County Medical Examiner’s Office, but they said a backlog means a full report won’t be released for months.

The father of Langhorst told Florida Today, a local newspaper, that he had last seen his daughter and the kids during the holidays. He also said her family had been looking for her since last hearing from her on March 11.

“We were looking for her and hadn’t heard anything from her. That was unusual for her,” said Randy Langhorst. “We wouldn’t have daily contact with her, but this was a while.”

He also said that drugs might have been involved in the deaths.

“She was a free spirit, smart as a whip, beautiful, but lived her life to the beat of her own drummer. It’s just a tragedy,” he explained.

St. Lucie County court records showed that the woman had one drug arrest in 2010.

Investigators told Florida Today that the father of the twins is being held at the Brevard County Jail Complex over a separate and unrelated case.

Randy Langhorst also said that they had offered to take care of the grandchildren but that his daughter had been insistent that she could take care of them.

“All I can think is that maybe … maybe the car was running and she fell asleep, maybe the fumes overwhelmed them,” said Langhorst’s father. “I don’t know.”

The investigation is ongoing.