A Florida babysitter is accused in the horrific death of a 10-month-old in a car that’s interior temperature reached more than 130 degrees earlier this week.
Rhonda Jewell, 46, was charged on Wednesday with the aggravated manslaughter of a child just hours after the infant in her care was pronounced dead, the Baker County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, Jewell picked up the 10-month-old from the mother’s residence in north Macclenny around 8 a.m. Wednesday, and drove the child to another address on Estates Street in south Macclenny where she planned to watch three other children.
Jewell, who had been watching the baby sporadically since June, then went into the home, leaving the infant inside the car for at least five hours, police said.
The child’s mother made the gruesome discovery when she came to pick the baby up around 1 p.m., First Coast News reported.
After the panicked parent called 911 to report that her baby was not breathing and had blue lips, first responders transported the infant to Fraser Memorial Hospital.
The baby was subsequently pronounced deceased.
Deputies who responded to the scene told the medical staff that the infant was very hot to the touch, the outlet reported.
The sheriff’s office later determined that the temperature inside the vehicle soared to over 133 degrees, while the baby’s external temperature read 102.1 degrees.
The infant’s internal temperature was 110 degrees, though this was the highest temperature the hospital thermometer could read.
Temperatures in Macclenny reached a high of 99 degrees on Wednesday, according to Accuweather.
“Each of us are given the gift of life every morning we wake up and every evening when we finish our day, we are blessed if our family is safe and healthy. In the blink of an eye, our world can be turned upside down,” Sheriff Scotty Rhoden said in an emotional public statement Thursday.
“Please be mindful of this when trying to understand the tragedy that took place in our small town yesterday.”
Jewell posted a $25,000 bond, and was freed with GPS monitoring, the statement continued.