A toddler was found dead inside her mom’s car as the latter forgot to drop her off at the daycare center Thursday, officials said.
According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), the infant’s mother had told them that she dropped off two of her three kids, aged 5 and 3, at the daycare and originally planned to drop off her 1-year-old daughter on the same day care after running some errands. She also reportedly said that she got distracted afterward, unwittingly leaving the toddler inside her Honda Civic parked near their home for the entire day.
“She told us that she dropped off the 5-year-old and the 3-year-old but brought the 1-year-old back with the intention to drop her off later after she was running her errands,” says Harris County Sheriff’s Office Senior Deputy Thomas Gilliland.
“Somewhere between arriving at home and going in she became distracted and didn’t go back for the child and thus the child was left inside the vehicle,” he added.
Gilliland also said that the woman had gone on to do her errands and go to the gym before going back to the gym to pick up the kids. She then found out that she didn’t drop off her infant daughter. It was only after they started searching for the baby that they found her dead inside the car.
“When she went to pick up her 5-year-old and 3-year-old she said, ‘Where is my infant?'” Gilliland shared. “They said, ‘She is not here.’ She said ‘I did, I brought my infant here and they said, ‘No, you did not.’ So the supervisor of the day care went through the day care and followed her back home and that’s when they discovered the child unfortunately deceased in the vehicle.”
Police did not state the exact cause of death but they did say that the dead toddler was found on the rear floorboard of the car.
The authorities also said that she is believed to have been left in the car from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. According to Gilliland, the weather may have contributed to the child’s death.
“It was 90 odd degrees yesterday. It certainly was probably a contributing factor,” says Gilliland.
The investigation on the child’s death was continuing, police said.
