Mom Arrested After Newborn Found Dead in Hot Car with 'No Air Conditioning, No Ventilation': Coroner

Mom Arrested After Newborn Found Dead in Hot Car with 'No Air Conditioning, No Ventilation': Coroner https://ift.tt/FRKvqSV

Andrea Luncsford, 25, was arrested and charged with endangering the health and life of a child, the Peoria Police Department said

Peoria Police Department

Andrea Luncsford

An Illinois woman is facing criminal charges after her newborn was found dead in a hot car with no air conditioning or ventilation, authorities said.

On Monday, Sept. 16, Andrea Luncsford, 25, of Chicago, was arrested and charged with endangering the health and life of a child, the Peoria Police Department said in a statement.

Her son, identified as 1-month-old Grayson Luncsford, of Chicago, died of dehydration and exposure to extreme heat, Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood said at a press conference on Tuesday, Sept. 16, local outlet WCBU reports.

The baby had been left in a vehicle without food or water for an “extended period,” Harwood claimed, WCBU reports.

“An autopsy on little Grayson demonstrates that he suffered gross neglect due to severe hyperthermia and profound dehydration,” Harwood alleged, The Kansas City Star reports.

Related: What to Know About Hot Car Deaths and How to Avoid Them

On Monday, just after 7 p.m., police responded to a report about a dead baby at a home on the 2400 block of N. Peoria, police said in the statement.

“When officers arrived, they located a baby that was unresponsive and not breathing,” police said.

Harwood said he arrived shortly after. The baby was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:38 p.m., according to WCBU.

The baby had been dead for “quite some time” when Harwood arrived, he said.

Before police arrived, the baby’s grandfather pulled him out of a pickup truck and placed him in the yard, Harwood said, local outlet WEEK reports.

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He said he didn’t know how long the baby had been in the car or the exact time of death, WCBU reports.

During the course of their investigation, detectives detained Luncsford, transported her to the Peoria Police Department for questioning and subsequently arrested her, police said in the statement.

She was then transported to the Peoria County Jail, where she remains held, according to online jail records.

It is unclear whether she has retained an attorney who can speak on her behalf.

Leaving infants and children in hot cars without air conditioning or ventilation is dangerous, Harwood reminded people during the press conference.

"We've talked about safe sleep and the safe sleep suffocations that are preventable," he said during the press conference, WCBU reports. 

"This, too, is a preventable death," he said. "When you have an infant or a kid in a car for any amount of time in this heat, the outcome is going to be as it is right now today, which is we have the death of a 1-month-old who has died because they were in a car with no air conditioning, no ventilation, no nutrition, no hydration."

Related: Prevent Hot-Car Deaths: A Checklist for Parents

Harwood added, “Even an adult would suffer hyperthermia and dehydration.

"It's going to happen a lot faster for an infant, unfortunately, because of body surface area and the makeup of their bodies and how fragile they are in their infancy anyway," he continued.

This incident remains under investigation.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Peoria Police Department at (309) 673-4521, tip411 (anonymously) or Crime Stoppers (anonymously) at (309) 673-9000.

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