2-year-old dead after being left inside parent's vehicle all day, sheriff says
MADISON HEIGHTS, Va. (WSET) — A two-year-old boy is dead after being left inside their parent's car all day on Thursday, according to Amherst County Sheriff Jimmy Ayers.
Law enforcement responded to Chestnut Academy in Madison Heights just before 3:30 p.m.
Ayers would not give specifics regarding a parent, only saying that the child's 'custodian' came to pick up the child on Thursday afternoon, and that's when the daycare told them they had never dropped him off that morning. That's when the toddler was found unresponsive in the car.
According to dispatch sound captured through Broadcastify, the child's father "believed he left him in the car all day."
The toddler was taken to the hospital, but Sheriff Ayers told ABC13 that they had been pronounced dead. The Medical Examiner's Office still has to confirm the cause of death, but Ayers said everything pointed to the child dying due to the heat.
"All indications that the child was in this car all day as the custodian worked. We're trying to get to the bottom of how this happened, why this happened; this is absolutely horrible," Ayers said.
The sheriff said charges are coming, vowing that someone will be held accountable for the death.
We are still working to learn more about the incident and will provide updates as they become available.