FL Infant Dies After Babysitter Leaves Her In Hot Car: Police

MACCLENNY, FL — A 10-month-old girl died Wednesday after authorities said her babysitter left her in a hot car for several hours.

Rhonda Jewell, 46, was arrested and charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child in connection with the baby's death, according to a statement from Baker County Sheriff Scotty Rhoden. Jewell appeared in court Thursday, where her bond was set at $25,000.

According to Rhoden, Jewell picked up the infant from her mother's home in north Macclenny around 8 a.m. Wednesday. Authorities said Jewell had babysat the infant on several occasions since June.

Rhoden said Jewell then drove to another home where she planned to babysit other children. When she arrived, Rhoden said Jewell went inside the home and left the baby girl in the car.

According to authorities, Jewell didn't realize she left the child in the car until the baby's mother came to pick her up around 1 p.m.

The baby was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead, Rhoden said.

According to Weather Underground, the temperature in Macclenny was around 91 degrees at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

The infant was the sixth child this year to die after they were left in hot cars, according to the organization Kids and Car Safety.

In June, a 2-year-old died in Volusia County when her parents left her in a car for hours after the family returned home from a lunchtime trip.

On May 28, an 11-month-old infant died in Palm Bay after authorities said her mother left her in a car for three hours while she and her family attended church. And on May 16, another 2-year-old girl died in Holmes County after authorities said she was left inside a hot car by her parents for more than 14 hours.

Research conducted by No Heat Stroke founder Jan Null, an adjunct professor and research meteorologist at San Jose State University, shows that on a 70-degree day, the temperature inside a vehicle can reach 89 degrees within five minutes. Within an hour, it can reach 113 degrees.

It's even worse on 90-degree days. Within five minutes, the temperature can reach 100 degrees; in an hour, it can reach 133 degrees.

Young children are at a heightened risk of dying of heatstroke, and not only due to their inability to escape a hot car. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a child's body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult's. Heatstroke begins when the core body temperature reaches about 104 degrees, and children can die when theirs reaches 107.

• RELATED: How To Prevent Hot Car Deaths

In many cases, a parent completely loses awareness that the child is in the car, according to David Diamond, professor of psychology, molecular pharmacology and physiology at the University of South Florida who has studied the hot car deaths phenomenon for 15 years.

His research shows parents can forget their kids are in the car due to competition among the brain's memory systems — the "habit memory" system that allows people to rotely perform routine tasks without thinking about them, and the "prospective memory" system used to plan. The habit memory system typically prevails, and the problem is particularly acute among parents experiencing sleep deprivation or stress, according to Diamond.

"Often these stories involve a distracted parent," Gene Brewer, an Arizona State University associate professor of psychology, said in a news release. "Memory failures are remarkably powerful, and they happen to everyone. There is no difference between gender, class, personality, race or other traits. Functionally, there isn't much of a difference between forgetting your keys and forgetting your child in the car."

NoHeatStroke.org offers tips to help parents and other caregivers prevent leaving children in cars during hot weather.

• Never leave a child in a vehicle unattended — even if the windows are partially open or the engine is running and the air conditioning is on.

• Make it a habit to check your entire vehicle — front and back — before locking the door and walking away. Train yourself to "Park, Look, Lock," or always ask yourself, "Where's Baby?"

• Ask your childcare provider to call if your child doesn't show up for care as expected.

• Place a personal item, such as a purse or briefcase, in the back seat, as another reminder to look before you lock. Write a note or place a stuffed animal in the passenger's seat to remind you that a child is in the back seat.

• Store car keys out of a child's reach, and teach children that a vehicle is not a play area. A quarter of all hot car deaths occur because the child got into an unlocked car, not because a parent left them inside, according to the NHTSA.