When the child was discovered she had a temperature of 107 degrees, authorities shared.
After their 2-year-old daughter tragically died after being left in a hot car, the parents from Florida were arrested by authorities.
On May 16, Christopher McLean, 32, and Kathreen Adams, 23, were detained on counts of child neglect, possession of methamphetamine, and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to the Holmes County Sheriff's Office, per PEOPLE. The young girl was left all alone in a car outside the couple's house in Prosperity, a rural area in the Florida Panhandle, for roughly 14 hours while McLean and Adams remained inside the house, according to the sheriff's office. When the child was discovered, authorities shared, she had a temperature of 107 degrees.
A 2-year-old Florida girl who fell asleep in her car seat died after she allegedly was left in a hot car on purpose by her parents, authorities say. https://t.co/RKoQsXcBDq
— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 21, 2023
At a news conference on May 17, Sheriff John Tate spoke to reporters, per USA TODAY. The baby was asleep in the car seat and was left inside after Adams decided to leave her there. Adams, according to the sheriff, "purposely, through her own statement, purposely left the child in the car throughout the night." They decided to leave the child in the car and went inside and ultimately fell asleep, the sheriff said.
Florida parents arrested for death of their 2-year-old toddler who spent 15 hours in hot car 😔 pic.twitter.com/nj2JUo6Gny
— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) May 21, 2023
After the youngster was discovered and a 911 call was made from the home, deputies were called to the site. First responders started CPR, but EMS pronounced the child dead shortly after, Tate told reporters.
Adams initially told detectives that she had discovered her daughter unconscious in the home, but they quickly had doubts, Holmes County Sheriff John Tate said at a press conference. When touched, the girl felt quite hot, the deputies noted. “We knew something wasn’t adding up,” while talking to the girl’s mother, Tate said. “It didn’t pass the smell test. Common sense tells you that most of the time if you’re in a home you’re not going to get that hot.”
Please make a habit of checking the backseat & tell friends & family to do the same. I hate seeing this type of news 😢
— Orietta Rose 🇺🇲 (@dess_ri) May 21, 2023
The 4th child dead in a car so far this year.https://t.co/n1BKOcheOF
Tate claimed that Adams confessed that she had picked up both of her children from a family member's house and returned home around midnight when confronted with additional proof. “When she got home, along with the baby's dad, the baby was asleep in the car seat, and they decided to leave the child in the car and ultimately did not wake up or did not realize the child was in the car until around 3 p.m.,” he said. The Department of Children and Families was given custody of the girl's 4-year-old sibling.
According to Kids and Car Safety, an organization attempting to inform the public about the issue, Tuesday's tragic event marked the fourth hot-car death in Florida and the second one in the US this year.
‘The body temperature of the child was 107 degrees’: 2-year-old girl’s hot car death has #Florida parents in serious legal jeopardy
— Law & Crime (@lawcrimenews) May 18, 2023
Full story here: https://t.co/wRIqNq9jQZ pic.twitter.com/ZC4m7LLHGM
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Representative Cover Image Source: Pexels | Anastasia Shuraeva
