WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — An 18-month-old toddler died on Wednesday after being left in a car for nearly eight hours overnight in Lakeland, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
The little girl was reportedly left strapped into her car seat around 3 a.m. after returning home from a Fourth of July party with her two young siblings, ages 6 and 8, and her parents Joel and Jazmine Rondon, both 33 years old.
Sheriff Grady Judd said during a news conference Thursday that the child's parents had begun unloading food and other items from their car when Jazmine told Joel to bring the toddler inside while she brought in the other two children.
At that time, Joel saw one of the car's doors sitting open as he was bringing stuff inside their home. When he returned to the car, that door had somehow closed, Grady said.
This led Joel to believe Jazmine had already brought the toddler inside, so he went back into the house and went to bed.
Joel woke up around 10 a.m. that morning and began getting ready for work. Around 11 a.m., he asked one of the kids to go "check on the baby" and the child responded that the baby was not in the room, Judd said.
The father began searching the house and eventually checked the car where he found the little girl still strapped in her car seat and unresponsive.
Judd said the couple drove the child to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center and despite efforts to cool the child, she could not be revived.
"Upon arrival there, even though it's painfully evident that this child has suffered a torturous death, an absolute torturous death, Lakeland Regional still worked on the baby to try to save its life," Judd said.
At 2:42 p.m., nearly 4 hours after the child was found, the little girl's internal body temperature was still at 104 degrees, according to the sheriff's office.
An autopsy determined that the child's cause of death was hyperthermia due to being left in a car, and the manner of death is homicide.
Joel and Jazmine both submitted drug screens, which reportedly came back positive for alcohol and marijuana. Joel's also included methamphetamines, Judd said. The couple was arrested and charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child.
This is the fourth report of a child's death this week in the Tampa Bay area.