Girl found in
SUV outside Indianapolis store died of heat exposure, coroner says
Update, Sept. 6: The Marion County coroner's
office has ruled 1-year-old Maria Guadalupe Sanchez's death an accident. She
died of environmental heat exposure, the coroner's office said.
Original story, May 18, 2019:
Indianapolis
officials have identified a toddler who died over the weekend after being
found in an SUV parked outside an east-side business.
The little girl
who died Saturday afternoon was identified Monday as 1-year-old Maria
Guadalupe Sanchez, according to the Marion County coroner's office.
Police and paramedics responded to a call for help at an AutoZone store
about 4:45 p.m. Saturday. Sanchez was unresponsive when medical personnel
arrived and was pronounced dead at Riley Children's Hospital.
Sanchez
was in a vehicle believed to have been driven to the business by her mother,
but police would not say where the mother was when the call for help was
placed or who made that call.
The mother was questioned by
detectives, and homicide investigators were called to the scene. Police also
sought a warrant to search the black SUV parked near the business, a few
spaces south of the entrance.
The coroner's office says the cause of
Sanchez's death is pending.