Two Bradley county brothers who died last summer both had body temperatures higher than 100 degrees.
That's the finding of the Bradley County Medical Examiner in a double murder case.
Authorities confirmed today River and Leland Bates both died of hyperthermia.
Investigators believe the boys were left in a hot car last June.
Doctors at Skyridge Medical Center say 3-year old River had a body temperature of 109 degrees when he arrived.
His 5 year old brother Leland was flown to Erlanger Children's Hospital, where medics recorded his temperature at 103 degrees.
The Bradley County Medical Examiner, Dr. Jeffrey Miller, says both boys were normal, healthy children.
But he says there's no way for children to regulate their bodies when they get too hot.
"So now you have increased core temperature. No way to disperse that heat, and it will just continue to build up. It affects every body system, most markedly the brain, with edema, seizures, anoxia, coma, death."
The boy's mother, Tasha Bates, faces two counts of felony murder, along with child abuse and meth manufacturing charges.
