Boy, 8, Takes Sister, 6, on Deadly Joyride

Girl dies after boy commandeers mother's car and crashes it

Half an hour after putting her two children to bed, a Phoenix mother discovered they were gone. Frantic and fearful they had been kidnapped, she called police, who spotted her car near her apartment and tried to pull it over.

After it swerved and crashed into a pole, police discovered the driver was the woman's 8-year-old son, and her 6-year-old daughter was a front-seat passenger.

The girl died early Thursday of injuries suffered in the Wednesday night crash, while her brother suffered an ankle injury that didn't appear serious, police said.