Jennifer and Ron Titchenell were outside with their children when they heard the snap.
It came from the trees high above where two of their boys were playing. Within seconds, a large branch tumbled down, striking 7-year-old Steven Richards on the head.
He immediately fell over and curled into a fetal position. His mother picked him up and placed him on the hood of a Chevy Camaro parked in the driveway, where his parents performed CPR. He was breathing and making noises, but there was blood in his mouth. Steven was dying.
As the Titchenells described those panicked moments yesterday, family friend Debbie Smith walked out the back door of the Anne Arundel County home she and her husband have shared with the Titchenells since last fall and sat down.
"I just don't know what to do," said Jennifer Titchenell, 30, her eyes red. "I'm so lost."
"It doesn't get any easier," said Smith, rubbing her friend's arm.
She would know. In a remarkable coincidence, Smith lost her little boy in front of the same house just three months ago, when 2-year-old Derrick "D.J." Smith Jr. wandered onto busy Telegraph Road in Severn to greet his grandfather and was struck by a car.
The family property is still adorned with remembrances of D.J. A memorial of stuffed animals, flowers and candles sits at the base of the mailbox, and messages to him are painted on the windows of a garage. The back windshield of Ron Titchenell's truck features a decal memorializing D.J.
His death had shaken both families, who have lived together since Smith took the Titchenells in while they navigated some family troubles. D.J. was like a little brother to Steven, who carried around his picture in a wallet. They often played in the backyard with its basketball hoop, trampoline and playhouse.
"He was always talking about him, and I tried to shy him off, to tell him not to dwell on it," said Ron Titchenell, 32.
For the Titchenells, D.J.'s death made them more protective of their own four children and particularly wary of their playing anywhere near the highway out front.
"We had become overprotective, I'd say," Jennifer Titchenell said.
Steven and his older brother John, 8, seemed far from danger Wednesday as they played in the driveway, which winds behind the home. Ron Titchenell fiddled with his truck, and Jennifer Titchenell told the boys to go inside and start on their homework and chores. It was about 4:15 p.m.
