DeKalb Mother Sentenced 15 Years, Let Daughter Die In Hot Car

TUCKER, GA — A DeKalb County mother was sentenced for the death of her 1-year-old daughter Wednesday. Dijanelle Fowler, 25, will serve 15 years in prison and five years probation, according to reports.

Last June, Fowler went to a salon at the Northlake Tower Festival shopping center in Tucker to get her hair done. Six hours later, she returned to her car, finding her 1-year-old daughter, Skylar, dead in the back seat. CBS46 reported it was the hottest day of the month.

The temperature outside reached 92 degrees, according to Almanac.com, meaning the inside of the car was brutally hot at dozens of degrees hotter. Prosecutor Dalia Racine said the car reached a temperature of 129 and a heat index of 150, according to CBS46.

Fowler called 911 and drove to Emory Hospital, complaining of her own medical issues, CBS46 reported. Police treated her for a seizure and found Skylar dead.

“Those cases are tough to work. Anything involving children is tough to work,” Captain Jerry Lewis of the DeKalb County Police Department, who has kids of his own, said, CBS 46 reported. “The vehicle was running and at some point in time the car cut off, whether due to a mechanical issue or the battery just gave out, and the car cut off and the child was in the car.”

Skylar's father, Louis Williams, 26, was deployed in the Middle East as a part of the Air Force Reserve when he was called about Skylar's death, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

He was told on Monday that a plea could potentially result in Fowler's imprisonment for 13 years, followed by seven years probation. "I don't think that's just," he said, according to the Journal Constitution. "I am not OK with what they're about to give her," he said, thinking a longer sentence would send a stronger message about leaving children in hot cars.

Fowler was charged with second-degree murder, cruelty to children and concealing a death.

Article image DeKalb County Police