Police Say Two Children Died When Mother Left Them in Hot Car for Three Hours

The Associated Press ^ | Published: Jun 29, 2002

[TheOtherOne]

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) - Two young children died while they were left alone in a hot car for more than three hours by their mother, who was having her hair done, police said Saturday.

The mother was being held on an open charge of murder pending a review by prosecutors, the Southfield Police Department said. Police did not release the 25-year-old Detroit resident's name.

"This is a hideous crime. ... There is no excuse to lose young innocent lives like this," said Police Chief Joseph E. Thomas.

The weather was sunny at the time the children were left Friday, with highs in the 80s. "It can get well over 100 degrees" inside a car, National Weather Service meteorologist Dennis Dixon said.

Police said they were called to Providence Hospital in the Detroit suburb late Friday after the woman brought in the 10-month-old girl and 3-year-old boy.

She initially told investigators she had been abducted and raped, and then returned to her car and found her children sleeping, police said.

She later changed her story, telling police that she stopped to have her hair done about 4:20 p.m., and that the children were dead when she returned more than three hours later, police said.

She said she drove for about three hours before going to the hospital, officers said.

Autopsies were scheduled to determine the official cause of death, but Detective John Harris said heat was the likely cause.

AP-ES-06-29-02 1653EDT

[glory]

I think I do remember the child was taken out of her custody, of course, the story faded shortly after so God knows where she is now.