A 9-year-old girl in Galena Park, Texas, died on Tuesday after her mother allegedly left her alone inside a hot car for eight hours while she went to work at a manufacturing plant, according to ABC News.
The 36-year-old mother reportedly left her daughter in the backseat of a Toyota Camry around 6 a.m., with a bottle of water and the windows partially rolled down. She then proceeded to begin her shift at the plant. Temperatures in the area reached 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36°C) that day.
“There’s never an excuse to leave a child unattended,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said at a press conference. “I don’t know if anyone checked on the child throughout the day.”
Around 2:00 p.m., after completing her shift, the mother returned to the car and found her daughter unresponsive. She immediately contacted police. The child was taken to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead.
Ongoing Investigation
The mother was initially detained on Tuesday but released the following day as investigators await the autopsy report. The cause of death has not been officially confirmed, but authorities are treating the case as an intentional act, not an accident.
Sheriff Gonzalez described the case as “unique,” noting that most hot car deaths occur unintentionally. “A 9-year-old beautiful little girl has lost her life by no fault of her own,” he said. “This was preventable.”
While the exact motive remains unclear, Gonzalez acknowledged the pressures many parents face. “Maybe she felt she had to work to make ends meet, but risking a child’s life—there’s no justification for that,” he added.
Legal Context and National Trend
In Texas, it is illegal to leave a child unattended in a vehicle. The tragic death marks the third hot car fatality in the state in just four days, and the 13th such child death reported nationwide this year, according to the New York Post.
Sheriff Gonzalez emphasized that while the mother may not have intended for this outcome, the risk was undeniable. “You’ve got to make other arrangements. It’s not worth putting a child in harm’s way like this.”
