A 27-year-old Texas mother, Vanessa Esquivel of Dallas, is accused of leaving her 15-month-old daughter inside a hot car with no working air conditioning. Allegedly, the woman left her 15-month-old there to go to work, and the child died as a result.
Videos by Suggest
According to a release issued by the Frisco Police Department (FPD), the incident occurred on Saturday, August 16. At the time, police officers with the Plano Police Department and FPD detectives responded to Medical City Plano Hospital. They had been advised of an infant’s death.
Upon arrival, and following an investigation, police officers learned that the child’s mother, Esquivel, had arrived at her place of work on Preston Road at around 2 p.m. At that time, police alleged, the woman left her 15-month-old inside her car for two hours.
The vehicle, according to police, did not have working air conditioning, and the child’s mother was aware of that fact. While the baby remained in the car, outside temperatures reached at least 95 degrees.
Mother Arrested And Charged
FPD detectives determined that there was probable cause that Esquivel murdered her toddler. The release alleged that Esquivel “intentionally” left her 15-month-old in the car, causing “injury/endangered the child,” a felony. Since this action led to the child’s death, it met, according to the police, the “statutory requirements of murder.”
On August 20, four days after the tragedy took place, Vanessa Esquivel of Dallas was arrested by the Dallas Police Department. She was eventually transferred and booked into the Collin County Jail on a murder charge. Her bond was set at $250,000.
Should Esquivel be found guilty of murder, she faces between five years to life imprisonment. The FPD has asked anyone with information to contact them.
This incident occurred more than two weeks after a Texas daycare owner allegedly left her clients’ children inside a hot car while going shopping.
As reported by Law & Crime, the incident occurred on August 1 at a Houston Kroger. Domonique Wilson reportedly drove to the store with five of her clients’ children and two of her own. She is accused of leaving the five children inside the hot car while taking her own children inside the store to shop.
The children were eventually found by Kroger employees, who reportedly insisted that there was “no AC on.” The kids were rushed into the store, all five in distress. Wilson was charged with five counts of felony child endangerment.