text: Please enable Javascript to watch this video 
   
   ST. CHARLES, MO (KTVI) – The mysterious death of a two year old child in St. Charles is no longer a mystery and that the death is now a criminal investigation. A St. Charles toddler died of hyperthermia, or extreme heat, after being left alone in a room for approximately 38 hours with a space heater that never turned off. 
   
   On Sunday, December 20, the mother, Kathleen M. Peacock, 22, discovered her child, Braydon, 2, was dead and ran to a neighbor’s home in the Elm Point Mobile Home Village. One of those neighbors ran to see if she could help. That neighbor said the child's room was extremely hot. 
   
   An autopsy was conducted to determine the cause of child’s death. 
   
   St. Charles Police said Tuesday that the child’s parents were cooking methamphetamine at the time of the child’s death. Authorities says the couple ignored the child's cries while they were on a weekend drug binge at their home. 
   
   Peacock, and the father, Lucas R. Barnes, 25, are facing charges of child abuse and neglect and manufacturing meth. 
   
   Police say that Peacock is pregnant. 
   
   Hyperthermia is an elevated body temperature that happens when a body produces or absorbs more heat than it can release. 
   
   Please enable Javascript to watch this video 
   
   Relatives of the 2-year-old and neighbors in the Elm Point Mobile Home Village say they are devastated. 
   
   One relative says Braydon appeared malnourished recently. She had distanced herself from the child's parents because she says they had a problem using drugs. She hopes the parents receive the maximum punishment if they are convicted. 
   
   Neighbors say they too had distanced themselves from the couple. Christopher Garcia says his girlfriend ran into the child's trailer after the little boy's mother started shouting for help. She says it felt like more than 100 degrees in the boys room. 
   
   "I just know that baby is in a better place. He was innocent. He was the most innocent most pure human being that could have happened. So you know he's an angel in heaven right now. I'd like to believe that." said neighbor Christopher Garcia. 
   
   "This is such a tragic event that's happened. I think if more people knew of our services. Knew that we are here and available and didn't have that fear of using us. We would see more use of the nursery." said Jill Kneemiller of the St. Louis Crisis Nursery. 
   
   Relatives of the family say they want people know there are other children who may be in the same situation and are in need of help. They hope they'll get help before another innocent life is lost. ||||| Story highlights The parents were home all weekend as Braydon was shut in his room 
   
   The space heater has no thermostat and does not turn off automatically 
   
   (CNN) A 2-year-old boy died in a home used as a methamphetamine lab after his parents left him alone in his room with a heater turned on - and didn't check on him, police in Missouri said. 
   
   Braydon Barnes was put in his crib on a Friday and left unattended with a space heater on for more than 38 hours, St. Charles police said. 
   
   Both parents Kathleen Peacock and Lucas Barnes told police they had used methamphetamine recently. They told officers they had been manufacturing in the home the week preceding their son's death. 
   
   The two were home all weekend as Braydon was shut in his room. 
   
   Read More
target: – Authorities say a 2-year-old boy in Missouri died after being left alone in a room with a running space heater for 38 hours straight while his parents did meth, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. "They heard the child's cries and did nothing," a county prosecutor says. The body of Braydon Barnes was discovered in his crib by his mother, 22-year-old Kathleen Peacock, on Sunday morning, per KTVI. A neighbor who ran to help after hearing Peacock's screams says it felt like it was more than 100 degrees in Braydon's room. Authorities say the boy had been dead for a while before he was found, CNN reports. It was determined that Braydon died of hyperthermia—or overheating—which likely "caused extreme discomfort and difficulty breathing as he died." Peacock and 25-year-old Lucas Barnes allegedly admitted to making meth the week before Braydon died in the mobile home where the boy was found, the Post-Dispatch reports. They're facing decades in prison for child abuse and drug manufacturing. In addition to hyperthermia, Braydon was found to be suffering from malnutrition and likely hadn't eaten in days. Their mobile home. which had "feces in places where it shouldn't be," was declared unsafe "for any human being" and condemned, the prosecutor says. Peacock, who is currently pregnant, was already facing charges for allegedly driving drunk with Braydon in the car. According to KTVI, relatives are "devastated," with at least one expressing hope that both Peacock and Barnes receive the harshest punishment available.