Mother of girls left in hot car: 'They didn't deserve to die like that'

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CARROLL COUNTY, Ga. — The mother of twin girls who died in a hot car last week says she's doing her best to be strong as she plans her daughters' funeral.

“I can't eat, sleep. I don't want to sleep because I think I’ll dream about them,” Breal Ellis said.

Ellis' daughters, Ariel and Alaynah, died last week. Police say their father, Asa North, was drunk when he left them inside a hot car on Aug. 4.

“They were sweet, loving, caring. They were always laughing. They never stopped laughing,” Ellis said.

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Ellis says she rarely let the 1-year-old girls out of her sight since they were born prematurely last year.

“They were the best thing that ever happened to me because I lost a little girl in 2014. She weighed one pound as well, just like them,” Ellis said.

But last week, her sister got into a car accident, so she left the girls with North for a few hours.

“I was with them every day and the one day I left ... I just want to tell them I’m sorry,” she said through tears. “They didn't deserve to die like that or to die, period, but I know they're in heaven.”

The family

to raise money for funeral expenses, but

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