LINCOLNTON (AP) — A judge dismissed charges against a Lincoln County man in the deaths of two children.
Superior Court Judge Ali Paksoy on Thursday dropped charges of involuntary manslaughter against Jordan Keely Arwood.
He had been charged in the April 7 deaths of his daughter, 6-year-old Chloe Arwood and his nephew, 7-year-old James Caldwell.
The children died when a 20-foot wall of dirt collapsed, burying them. They had been playing at the bottom of a pit Jordan Arwood was digging at the home.
Defense attorney Brad Smith said the children’s deaths were a tragic accident but were not the result of a criminal act.
It took rescue workers about 12 hours to recover the bodies.