Toddlers Left in Locked SUV in Scorching Heat

Two toddlers were saved after being left inside a locked SUV in near-90 degree heat while their mother shopped for groceries.

On Aug. 15, a 21-year-old Homewood man spotted the 3-year-old girl and her 2-year-old brother, who were left in their carseats inside a Cadillac Escalade outside Food 4 Less, 5556 W. 159th Street, Chicago Tribune reports.

The car’s back windows were “rolled down a few inches,” with the front windows closed as the outside temperature neared 90 degrees. Police reached through the open windows and unlocked the door to help free the kids.

Their mother, Shelby Vanderjack, came out of the store 25 minutes later, telling police that she had only been gone 10 minutes and had left the car running with the air conditioning turned on. Surveillance footage shows she had been inside the store for 45 minutes. Police said the car was not running when they arrived.

Vanderjack, of the 6000 block of Victoria Drive in Oak Forest, was charged with two counts of endangering the life or health of a child. The children were turned over to their father.