After a party on the Fourth of July, the parents of an 18-month-old daughter left her in a hot car overnight, where she passed away.
Police claim that Jazmine and Joel Rondon, both 33, mistakenly left their daughter in her car seat while removing their other two kids from the vehicle after returning from the Fourth of July celebration.
Joel discovered the youngster unconscious and fastened to her car seat the following morning after failing to see her inside the house. At Lakeland Regional Health Medical Centre, she was declared dead after being transported there. At 2.42 pm, her body temperature was over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to NBC News.
‘An autopsy determined that the victim’s cause of death is hyperthermia due to being left in a car, and the manner of death is homicide,’ stated the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
The Rondons, of Lakeland, Florida, were arrested on Thursday and had drug tests taken. Joel tested positive for methamphetamines, marijuana and alcohol, while Jazmine tested positive for the latter two, according to the sheriff’s office.
They were charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and taken to Polk County Jail.
The toddler died out of ‘pure negligence’, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said on Thursday.
Temperatures were in the 70s at night and likely 94 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit by 11am, he estimated.
‘The car was outside, not in a garage, not under a tree, not under any shade at all,’ said Judd.
‘And obviously we will try to recreate with the same temperature the heat of the car. Research shows us that the temperature of the car could have been anywhere between 130 and 170 degrees.’
The couple’s two other children are under the care of relatives. The Department of Child and Family services are probing the incident.
It was not immediately known if the Rondons have retained a lawyer.