Phoenix mom arrested after
3-year-old girl found dead inside car
PHOENIX
(3TV/CBS 5) -- Phoenix police have arrested the mother of a
3-year-old girl who was found dead in a car Sunday afternoon.
According to Sgt. Mercedes Fortune, officers responded to a
home near 35th Avenue and Thunderbird Road at about 4:30 p.m.
Sunday for a report of a missing child.
Police spoke with
the mother, 23-year-old Tianna Jones, who told police she was
unable to find her keys as they began to search the area for the
girl. When police searched her Jones' car, they found the child
inside and unresponsive. She was transported to the hospital
where she was later pronounced dead.
Jones told police
she was out drinking and using drugs the night before and had
picked her daughter up around 10:30 a.m. that morning from her
mother's home. Both of them were seen on the apartment complex's
cameras, according to court records, when they had arrived. They
went into the apartment where they had a snack before both of
them went to take a nap.
According to police, Jones said
she had fallen asleep for about three hours when her daughter
walked out of the home and made her way to the car and got
inside where she was later found by police.
Police
arrested Jones on child abuse charges. The cause of death will
be determined by the medical examiner. The investigation is
ongoing.
Phoenix girl, 3, dies after police find her in hot car; mother
arrested
PHOENIX (KNXV) -- Phoenix Police
say a child reported missing died after being found inside a
parked car Sunday.
Officers were called to a home near
Interstate 17 and Thunderbird Road around 4:30 p.m. Sunday where
23-year-old Tianna Jones reported her daughter missing. They
found the child, 3-year-old Delilah Jones, unresponsive in the
driver's seat of Jones's vehicle. The child was pronounced dead
at the hospital.
The cause of death is under
investigation, but the National Weather Service recorded
Phoenix's high temperature at 103 degrees on Sunday.
According to court documents, Jones admitted to partying the
night before, drinking alcohol, and using cocaine. Jones told
police she and daughter Delilah went inside at 10:30 a.m. to
take a nap. According to surveillance video, Delilah left the
apartment at 11:52 a.m. and got into her mom's car at 12:03 p.m.
Jones didn't leave her apartment looking for Delilah until 4:10
p.m. and it wasn't until 4:30 p.m. when Jones called police.
Police paperwork also showed that the Department of Child
Services had been involved before and removed the child due to
neglect. Jones was arrested and booked into jail on a child
abuse charge.
“Any time there’s a loss of a child, it’s just a very tragic event no
matter if it’s by natural means or by accident or by some other means,” he
said.