( CNN ) -- There were blood relatives in Houston who wanted to adopt . There was a guardian ad litem volunteer who had concerns about the adoptive parents . Child investigators were called on more than one occasion to the home . Yet early Monday along a Florida interstate , a road ranger pulled up behind a parked truck only to find an exterminator and his 10-year-old son unconscious , soaked in chemicals , and the boy 's twin sister dead . Jorge Barahona -- a 53-year-old father of four children adopted from the state 's foster care system -- told police he was distraught over the death of his daughter and had intended to commit suicide by dousing himself with gasoline and setting himself afire -- but did n't go through with it . The family had been at the center of multiple complaints to Florida 's Department of Children and Families , with callers reporting the twins being locked in bathrooms for long periods of time or bound with tape , according to court testimony . Even so , the children were allowed to remain in the house . This story appears to magnify everything that could go wrong with a child protective system . In 2004 , the siblings were placed with a foster family , according to Sonia Ferrer , circuit director of the guardian ad litem program . That family was Jorge and Carmen Barahona , she says . As often is the case when children are in the Florida foster system , a volunteer from the guardian ad litem program was assigned to look out for their best interests . `` The guardian was with the children for four years , '' Ferrer said . `` He had concerns about the placement . '' Those concerns were brought to the court 's attention and investigated before the children were officially adopted by the Barahonas in 2009 , Ferrer said . `` We did everything we could at the time . A full evidentiary hearing . '' The judge on the case sided with the experts who found no problem with the children living with the Barahonas . Ferrer recently spoke to that guardian ad litem , who she says is devastated over what happened to the children . He is not the only one . The biological father 's sister and her husband wanted to adopt the twins , according to their attorney Steven Grossbard . `` Unfortunately , the expert opinion suggested that there was a significant bond and the courts are inclined to go with experts ' opinion , '' Grossbard said . The bond he refers to is the five years the twins lived with the Barahonas as their foster children before being adopted by them in 2009 . Over the years problems in the Barahona home were brought to officials ' attention . `` Several times we 've been out to the home , '' Florida Department of Children and Families spokesman Mark Riordan said . He would not elaborate on the nature of the complaints . The most recent was a call to a child abuse hotline received just days before the twins were found in the truck , according to testimony Wednesday . The testimony came during a Miami placement hearing for the Barahonas ' three surviving adopted children . According to testimony by a Department of Children and Families official , the information in the anonymous hotline call came from the 7-year-old daughter of Carmen Barahona 's biological daughter . `` When she would go to this home , where these children were being locked in the bathroom , they were being tied , but they were being untied to eat , '' a DCF official testified . The granddaughter was told by her mother and grandmother that she was to keep `` family secrets '' quiet . This information was corroborated when the granddaughter and the two other adopted children were interviewed , according to testimony . All alleged abuses discussed in the hearing were directed toward the twins , not the two other children . Jorge Barahona has been charged with aggravated child abuse , the West Palm Beach Police Department said and will likely face other charges . His wife , Carmen , has not been charged . She tried to hide her face at Wednesday 's hearing , where the allegations of abuse were denied by her attorney . The hotline call was on Thursday , according to court testimony . The DCF investigator , Andrea Fleary , said she went to the house on Friday night but Carmen Barahona would not let her speak to the children . Fleary testified that she left the house with the intention of following up on Monday .
Biological aunt wanted to take them in . Comment: Court-appointed guardian is devastated . Jorge Barahona has been charged with aggravated child abuse .