Utah baby
who died had body temp of 109, police believe he was left in a hot car
SANTAQUIN, Utah (ABC4 News) – Police in Santaquin are
investigating after a 6-month old boy died and was brought into the
hospital with a body temperature of over 109 degrees.
According
to a search warrant, the boy was already deceased when his mother
brought him into the ER just before 6 p.m. on August 13. Doctors said
the infant had hot red flushed skin that was shedding and a core
temperature that was obtained by a rectal thermometer of 109.8 degrees
Fahrenheit.
The ER doctor said the only way a body temperature
could get that high is from environmental conditions. The doctors said
postmortem had already set in, which is usually 2-6 hours after death,
the warrant states.
Prior to the emergency room call, police and
medical personnel had not received any emergency calls regarding this
incident and shortly after, the mother, was questioned about the events
that led up to the infant’s death.
Police stated in the warrant
the mother’s body language was unusual for a mother who just lost their
infant child. She was calm and showing very little emotion, documents
state.
Police observed she was crying off and on but struggling
to produce tears and when asked a question she could stop crying
instantly. Police said the woman appeared to be overly concerned about
self-preservation and of officers accusing her of something rather than
being concerned about losing her child, the warrant further states.
Police mentioned in the warrant that when asked to provide a
timeline for her day, the mother gave inconsistent statements but said
she had to run several errands throughout the day.
Police said
the woman told them the baby was in his car seat inside the vehicle
right next to her the entire time and she never noticed anything unusual
until she arrived in Santaquin.
At that time, she indicated the
baby was lethargic, had a blank stare, and was really hot to the touch;
therefore, she freaked out and sped to the hospital to get help and told
police it took her 35 minutes to get to Mountain View Hospital on SR
198, which usually takes about 10 minutes to drive.
The mother
also told police a neighbor played with her child around three but the
neighbor denied ever seeing the baby at that time.
Police said
the mother’s timeline was off and her story had large gaps of time that
were unaccounted for and her story changed a couple of times regarding
the several hours leading up to her arrival at the hospital.
The
woman’s neighbor convinced her to talk with police regarding events that
she left out of her story.
During a second interview with police,
the woman provided a different story regarding her whereabouts leading
up to the arrival at the hospital saying she went driving all around the
south end of Utah County looking for her lost dog with her child in the
car and lost track of time. She told police her child must have gotten
too hot while in the car, documents state.
Police are still
investigating and have requested a search warrant for the mother’s phone
to help build a timeline of where she was during the day.
ABC4
has left off the name of the child and the mother as she has not yet
been charged with any crime.