Rory Sykes, former child star, was one of the many casualties resulting from the California wildfires raging through the Los Angeles area. He starred in Kiddy Kapers as a child, and lived in a cottage in Malibu. Sykes’ mother took to X and spoke with 10 News First about the loss of her son’s “needless” death.
“It’s with great sadness that I have to announce the death of my beautiful son @Rorysykes to the Malibu fires yesterday,” Skelley Sykes began on X. “I’m totally heart broken. British born Australian living in America, a wonderful son, a gift born on mine & his grandmas birthday 29 July 92, Rory Callum Sykes.” According to his mother, Rory was “born blind with cerebral palsy & had difficulty walking,” which was likely part of the cause for his death.
In an interview with 10 News First, Rory’s mother spoke out about the difficulty she faced attempting to save her son. She started, “Guess what didn’t work? 911. All the phone lines were down.” Shelley spoke about how Rory had told her to just leave him, but she fought back, “No mom can leave their kid.” She struggled to save her son, but she “Had a broken arm” and could neither “lift him or move him.” This was, however, after she’d made an attempt to put the fires out on the cottage’s roof, but there was no water to spare. She went to the fire station near the estate for help, but she said the fire fighters said “We’ve got no water.” The fire department brought Shelley back to her son, but by the time they arrived, Shelley said “his cottage was burned to the ground.”
During the fires, so much water was being used as an attempt to control the raging fires that there wasn’t much to spare. While there was water closer to sea level, according to 10 News First, those higher up in the mountains, like Rory and his mother, were out of luck and struggling to find a way to douse the fires. Shelley Sykes comments on how the fire fighters mentioned that “Rory died from carbon monoxide poisoning,” and how “She didn’t want any pain for her baby.”
As of today, Rory’s body hasn’t yet been recovered and hasn’t been added to the death count in the wildfires throughout the Los Angeles area yet, and over 39,000 acres have been burned through.
