Mother of Toddler Left Overnight In Freezing Car Gets 8 Years

THORNTON, CO -- The little boy, 2, was found by Thornton police partially strapped in in a snow-covered car in a Thornton parking lot in December, 2016, suffering from frostbite and hypothermia after spending the night in subzero temperatures. His mother Nicole Carmon, 26, had told Thornton police she got in an accident after a night drinking six vodka shots and left her Ford Fusion sedan behind with her small son inside. She told police she couldn't remember where she parked the car.

The next morning, Carmon’s babysitter called police, saying Carmon had come to her home looking for the boy. Carmon's arrest affidavit said Thornton police guessed the child had been in the car for 14 hours, with the temperatures dropping to -8 degrees, the Denver Post reported.

Carmon was sentenced to 8 years in prison Jan. 4 in Adams Co. for negligent child abuse causing serious bodily injury and attempted first degree assault, a statement from Adams Co. District Attorney David Young's office said. Carmon pleaded guilty to the two charges in November.

“She needs to look at herself in the mirror and realize that she is the one who left that child in the car that day and she was the one who chose to drink," Young said in a statement. "When you become a parent you have responsibilities to care for your child and she put her own desire to drink and do drugs ahead of that responsibility. I still remember that frigid day. If it were not for the actions of the Thornton police in finding this child, he likely would have died.”

Thornton police found Carmon’s car at 901 E. 120th Avenue on Dec. 17. At the time, Thorton police said "good police work" led them to the child.

Carmon had a history of DUIs and a pattern of leaving her young son alone at home and in her car, said Senior Deputy District Attorney Patrick Freeman. “She has shown time and again that taking care of her kid is not her priority. He would have died if left in that car much longer. It is by the grace of God that we are not here today to sentence her for child abuse resulting in death.”

Adams County District Court Judge Thomas Ensor called Carmon’s actions “atrocious” and “jaw-dropping” during the trial.

Image via Adams Co. Sheriff's Dept.