A 25-year-effort uncovers clues to unexplained deaths in children

Seizures during sleep appear to play a role in these mysterious deaths

A photo of a family on a hike in Alaska

Holly Weiss-Racine, Marin, Wesley and Nick Racine (from left to right) hiked to Spencer Glacier in Alaska in September of 2015. Wesley died unexpectedly at the age of 2 in December 2015.

Holly Weiss-Racine

In 1997, at 15 and a half months old, Maria Crandall was developing well and the “happiest little kid,” says her mom Laura Gould, a research scientist at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine.