Family, friends, neighbors and strangers have stood by Juan Rodriguez, a New City dad who left his almost 1-year-old twins in his hot car for eight hours on Friday when the temperatures reached into the high 80s.

The description of the twins' deaths is framed as an accidental tragedy in Facebook posts, on a GoFundMe page to help offset funeral expenses for little Luna and Phoenix Rodriguez, and in press statements by the family.

"The first initial reaction is, 'how the hell could you,' " neighbor Galit Maayani said Monday outside her New City home. But, she said of Juan Rodriguez, "he loved his kids he really does and still does."

Others have expressed incredulity that a father wouldn't realize his kids were sitting in their car seats just an arm's stretch away. "How do you forget your kids are in the car," asked Edward Pentangeli in lohud's Facebook feed.

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But such tragic incidents are hardly rare. According to Consumer Reports, 21 children had died in the United States after being left in a vehicle this year; those numbers were tabulated in July, before Luna and Phoenix had died.

Such deaths are frequent enough that there's an actual medical term for it: "Forgotten Baby Syndrome."

Studies have focused on the neurobiology: the brain can fill in "prospective memory," or steps taken out of habit, even though they didn't actually happen.

But Juan Rodriguez appeared to explain it a different way to the New York City police officers who responded to the 911 call near his job at the Bronx VA. He told police, "I blanked out" then said, "My babies are dead. I killed my babies!"

The family has three other children. They had a backyard birthday party for the twins just two and a half weeks ago, Maayani said, with inflatables for kids to play on and decorative balloons. "You see the love and you see how they care," she said. "And then this happens."

Incidents of such tragedies have brought response from Congress and from parents who have suffered similar losses:

The HOT CARS Act, introduced in May, would mandate that new vehicles come with alert systems to remind drivers if a child is left in the backseat. The acronym stands for Helping Overcome Trauma for Children Alone in Rear Seats Act of 2019 Some, though, wonder why a parent would need a reminder.

Ray Ray's Pledge enlists daycare providers to call if a child doesn't show up one day. It's named for a young girl whose father forgot to drop her at daycare one morning, and she subsequently died from heatstroke after being left in his truck.

Still, many remain puzzled by the father's actions on Friday. "I’ll never understand how a parent can forget their child in the car," Cindy Anne Ferri Leckart wrote on lohud's Facebook page. "It just makes no sense to me. Those poor babies."

Maayani said the Rodriguez family moved to their New City split ranch about four years ago. She called Juan Rodriguez a good father. "I don't think anyone does it on purpose," she said.

Juan Rodriguez's wife, Marissa, has said she loves and stands by her husband, even amid her "absolute worst nightmare." He has been charged with two felony counts of second-degree manslaughter, two felony counts of criminally negligent homicide, and two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child. He pleaded not guilty Saturday and is due back in court Thursday.

The twins' deaths aren't the only case in the metropolitan area. In May, a neighbor found a 21-month-old girl strapped to her car seat inside a black Toyota Camry in the driveway of a Lakewood, New Jersey, home. CPR was administered, but the child was pronounced dead. Investigators determined the baby had been left in the car, alone, for about 2½ hours. The girl's mother was charged on June 5 with endangering the welfare of a child.

Meanwhile, the GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses for Luna and Phoenix had drawn more than $37,000 in donations by midday Monday. The page had been shared about 2,800 times.

"Marissa & Juan, you are not alone," read one donor's comment. "We will help you through this hell. You are loved and supported more than you likely know."

Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy for the USA Today Network Northeast. Reach her at ncutler@lohud.com. Twitter: @nancyrockland