Toddler Dies After Being Left In Jeep For 8 Hours In Smithtown: Police

SMITHTOWN, NY — A toddler died after she was left in a hot Jeep for eight hours in Smithtown on Monday afternoon, Suffolk police said.

A Greenlawn woman, 54, forgot to drop off her 14-month-old granddaughter at day care and went to work, leaving the baby in a car seat in the backseat of the 2018 Jeep Cherokee, police said. The woman went to pick the girl up at the day care on Redwood Lane eight hours later when she realized she left the child in her Jeep, police said.

The child was pronounced dead at Saint Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown, police said.

The baby, Chyasia Evans, was mourned at a vigil on Tuesday evening, News 12 Long Island reported. Everyone at the vigil was provided a candle to light in Chyasia's honor.

"Now that she’s gone, she has left a hole in everybody’s heart I’m sure because that little girl touched so many people," a family friend of the baby told News 12.

Detectives are still investigating. Police did not release the grandmother's name.