Child left in hot
car dies in Bardwell
An eleven-month old infant left
in a heated car and found unresponsive in Bardwell on Friday, was pronounced
dead at 6:56 p.m. by Waxahachie Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Dan Cox.
According to the medical examiner’s report, the cause of death to young Mia
Villegas (born 7-5-18) was hyperthermia (heat-related conditions
characterized by an abnormally high body temperature), which is the opposite
of hypothermia. The report also ruled it an accidental death. The highest
temperature on Friday (June 21) was 94 at 4:03 p.m. The heat index,
according to Ennis weatherman Ron Vestal, got up to 107 at 3:52 p.m. No
further information was available, nor had the Ellis County Sheriffs
Department announced any charges as of press deadline on Tuesday, June 25.
On the average, 38 children under the age of 15 die each year in the United
States after being left in a vehicle. All but three states (Alaska, New
Hampshire, Vermont) has experienced at least one death since national
records began being kept in 1998. In 2018, a record number of 52 children
died after being left in