Texas officials are investigating after a nine-month-old baby was found dead inside a hot car.
The Beeville Police Department said on social media that it appears the child’s grandmother left the baby in the rear seat of the car, in a carseat, at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The grandmother then allegedly returned to find the child non-responsive around 4 p.m.
The grandmother called the police after making the discovery, CBS affiliate KZTV reported.
The incident is being investigated as a criminal homicide, the police department said. No official charges have been filed yet, but they are expected later, the department said. The Department of Public Safety and the Texas Rangers are assisting with the investigation.
The parents of the child have been notified, KZTV reported. It’s not clear where they were at the time of the incident.
That is the third hot car death in Texas in 2024, according to Kids and Car Safety, and the second this week. A 22-month-old toddler was left inside a hot car at a local middle school in Corpus Christi after their mother forgot to drop the child off at daycare on Tuesday, CBS Texas reported. The child was found dead hours later. The parent, identified by police as schoolteacher Hilda Adame, was arrested on charges including injury to a child and abandonment of a child.
There have been 26 hot car deaths reported nationwide this year, according to Kids and Car Safety. At least 1,108 such deaths have occurred in the U.S. since 1990, the organization said.
Since 1991, at least 157 children have died in hot cars in Texas, making it the “worst state in the country,” according to Kids and Car Safety.
Some advocates have called for better safety technology that could help prevent such deaths. Kids and Car Safety founder Janette Fennell told CBS Texas that her organization is pushing for “occupant detection technology in all cars immediately.” That technology would include radar systems that detect movement and even breathing, and rear alert reminders that can inform car owners of the presence of a child in the backseat.