Charges Filed Against Parents After Toddler Dies in Hot Vehicle

Posted: May 20, 2023 5:10 pm

A toddler died in Florida this week after being left in a hot vehicle for approximately 14 hours. The parents were charged in the death of the two-year-old girl in Holmes County, located in the northeastern corner of the state near the border of Alabama.

Multiple Charges Against Parents After Toddler Dies in Hot Car

According to the advocacy group Kids and Cars Safety, this is the fourth hot car death in the country this year and summer has not even officially kicked off. The girls parents, 23-year-old Kathreen Adams and 32-year-old Christopher McLean, were both charged with multiple counts, including child neglect, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of methamphetamine. Local law enforcement officials also confirmed that more charges may be forthcoming as they wait for the results of the child’s autopsy.

The tragedy unfolded right before 4 pm EDT on Tuesday. The Holmes County sheriff’s department responded to a welfare check and found the child unresponsive inside the home. Despite the immediate start of emergency medical services, the child was pronounced dead at 3:59 pm.

Investigators quickly realized that the story of the parents was not adding up. Holmes County Sheriff John Tate told reporters later that night that the father was not cooperating with authorities.

Tate said that investigators initially became suspicious when the child’s body temperature registered 108 degrees. The mother eventually confessed that she picked up her two children from a babysitter at about midnight the prior night and made the decision to leave them in the vehicle overnight. While the four-year-old was able to get out of the car, the younger child was left in the vehicle until later the next afternoon.

The surviving child is now in the protection of the Department of Children and Families.

Law Enforcement Blames Drugs on the Tragedy

A search of the family home yielded methamphetamine, marijuana, and various pieces of drug paraphernalia. Tate said that he blames the use of methamphetamine on the accident.

Temperatures in this part of Florida hit the upper 80s on Tuesday. Although it was cooler around midnight when the parents made the decision to leave the children in the vehicle, it did not take long for the mercury to soar during the daytime hours. It is likely that the temperature inside the car reached triple digits once the sun came up.

The investigators are waiting for autopsy results to determine what type of homicide charges the parents will face.

Hot Car Death Stats

According to Kids and Car Safety, Florida is second in the country for child hot vehicle deaths. The Sunshine State has recorded 111 deaths between 1990 and 2022. Texas leads the nation at 146 fatalities during that same time period with California coming in at third with 65 deaths.

The first hot vehicle death in 2023 happened in Alabama at the end of February. A father left his two-year-old boy in a car for eight hours when he went to work. After going to pick up his son from daycare, he realized that he never dropped him off and that he was unresponsive in the car.

About one week later, another two-year-old lost his life in Port St. Lucie, Florida after the father left the toddler in a car for over five hours. The man had dropped four other children at school in the morning and forgot to take the young child out of the vehicle when returning home.

More recently, a one-year-old girl died in Spring Valley, New York after she was left in a car for several hours.

Preventing These Tragedies

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) warns that the inside temperature of a vehicle can hit over 115 degrees when the outside readings are only 70 degrees. This means that it does not have to be exceptionally hot outside to see deadly readings inside a vehicle.

It is a good idea to get into the habit of locking the vehicle doors and trunks. Approximately one quarter of these deaths happen when young children climb into unlocked vehicles and cannot get out.

You should also never leave a child alone in a vehicle, even if for a short amount of time. A child’s body temperature has been shown to rise up to five times faster than an adult. Do not be mistaken and think that rolling down the windows provides sufficient relief from the heat outside.

Lastly, you can do your part by being vigilant about children who may have been inadvertently left inside a vehicle. Do not hesitate to call 911 should you spot a child alone in a car, particularly if they look unresponsive.

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