Mom finds baby dead after sitter leaves her in hot car for hours, Florida cops say
A 10-month-old child died after being left in the car for hours by her babysitter, Florida deputies said.
On July 19, Rhonda Jewell, 46, drove to a Macclenny home at about 8 a.m. and picked up the baby from her mother, according to a release from the Baker County Sheriff’s Office.
Jewell had taken care of the child on multiple occasions since June, deputies said.
With the baby in the car, Jewell drove to another home where she was taking care of another child, deputies said. Jewell went into the house when she arrived, leaving the baby in the car, according to the release.
Around 1 p.m., the baby’s mother arrived at the house to pick up her daughter, deputies said, and it was then that Jewell realized she had left the baby in the car.
During the five hours the baby was in the car, temperatures reached a high of 99 degrees Fahrenheit, Fox Weather reported.
The baby was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead, deputies said.
“Each of us are given the gift of life every morning we wake up and every evening when we finish our day, we are blessed if our family is safe and healthy,” Baker County Sheriff Scotty Rhoden said on Facebook on July 20. “In the blink of an eye, our world can be turned upside down. Please be mindful of this when trying to understand the tragedy that took place in our small town yesterday.”
Jewell was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and was taken into custody.
In 2023, 14 children have died of vehicular heatstroke, according to noheatstroke.org, including five children in Florida.
The Macclenny baby is the sixth and youngest child to die in the state this year from extreme temperatures inside a vehicle, noheatstroke.org reports.
Macclenny is about 30 miles west of Jacksonville.
Preventing hot car deaths
Vehicular heatstroke events can start as early as March each year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says, and 53% of hot car deaths are the result of a child being forgotten in a car.
The end of the workweek, Thursdays and Fridays, have the highest death rates, and 46% of the times a child is forgotten, their caregiver had intended to drop them off at a day care or preschool, NHTSA reports.
To help prevent hot car deaths, officials recommend the following tips:
Check the back seat before locking the doors of the vehicle.
Keep the vehicle doors locked when unattended — 25% of hot car deaths result from children getting into unlocked and unattended cars, NHTSA says.
Don’t leave children alone.
If you see a child in a vehicle, check to see if they are responsive. If they are not, call 911 immediately and attempt to get inside the vehicle, including by breaking a window. If they are responsive, attempt to find the vehicle owner. If unsuccessful, call authorities and attempt to get inside the vehicle.
