Glendive mom
charged for son's "hot car" death
Ashley Maria Howard
of Glendive has been charged with negligent homicide for the death of her
two-year old son in June.
Court documents state that the child was
taken to Glendive Medical Center (GMC) on June 26 with a body temperature of
107 degrees, and then airlifted to St. Vincent’s Hospital in Billings, where
he died on June 28.
A detective said that the unofficial cause of
death declared by a Billings physician was hypterthermia, which is caused by
overheating. The detective said that, according to the physician, the
symptoms of hyperthermia would have been evident no more than two hours
before the toddler was taken to the hospital.
Court documents say
that on June 28, Dawson County Sheriff’s Deputy Miles Baisch was approached
by the child's grandfather and Ashley’s father, who said they were concerned
about the nature of the child’s death. The grandfather said that on at least
three occasions, his daughter had left her child in the car in hot weather,
and that had confronted her about it before.
The court documents also
state that grandfather told Baisch that on June 25 the child’s father had
taken the toddler for a routine checkup, and at that time the child was said
to be in good health, raising the question as to how the child could have
turned ill so quickly.
Baisch contacted Child Protective Services and
was advised that they had opened an investigation in Billings as well. After
speaking with CPS, Baisch learned from Deputy County Coroner Tyler Silha
that the child had died.
The court documents state that Baisch talked
with the child’s daycare provider, who said that she had also seen the child
on June 25 and that he appeared to be in good health. She also said she saw
Ashley Howard and her son at GMC on June 26, and Howard told her that her
son had fallen asleep while wrapped in a blanket in the house with high
temperatures.
According to court document,s Howard told investigators
in Billings that the child had fallen asleep wrapped in a blanket while in
the care of the daycare provider.
On July 12, Baisch interviewed
Ashley Howard and said he needed to hear her side of the story. She told
Baisch that on the night of June 25 she had an argument with her boyfriend
before dropping him off at his late-shift at work. Text messages obtained by
the Sheriff’s Department indicate that Ashley said that she was going to
stay at a friend’s house for the night.
According to court documents,
Howard later attended a friend’s party and arrived at around 11 p.m.
Witnesses at the party said that they did not see Howard’s child with her .
During the interview, Ashley told Baisch that she left the party at
around 5:30 a.m. to spend the night at a friend’s house next door. Howard
said that at that point she removed her toddler from his child seat to lay
him down on the car seat, and went inside to sleep for an hour before
driving home.
Howard said that she slept until 1 p.m. on June 26, at
which time she woke up to find the child still in the car with sweaty, pale
skin, a high temperature, and labored breathing. Court documents state that
Howard tried to cool him off in a bathtub before leaving and calling GMC at
1:18 p.m., telling them that she was bringing her child in.
Howard’s
initial court appearance is scheduled for August 21.
Bond for Howard,
according to the Dawson County jail roster, was set at $100,000.