13-month-old Alabama boy dead after left in
car overnight, into Saturday afternoon; mother charged
A 13-month-old baby is boy is dead after being left inside a locked car
overnight Friday and into the afternoon hours on Saturday in north Alabama.
The boy’s mother, 36-year-old Elizabeth Anne Case, is charged with
murder, according to Limestone County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Stephen
Young. Case is being held without bond.
Deputies responded to the
intersection of Highway 251 and Highway 31 Saturday afternoon where Athens
Police and Athens Fire were on scene with a vehicle containing the child,
his mother and grandmother.
Investigators determined, Young said,
that the boy had been left inside a vehicle overnight Friday and well into
Saturday on East Limestone Road, and that the mother and grandmother were
attempting to transport the child to the hospital. The baby was transported
to Athens-Limestone Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The
investigation showed that Case had left her residence on East Limestone Road
between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. with her child buckled into a front-facing car
seat and without strapping the seat to the vehicle. Case traveled to both
Limestone and Madison counties where she was “dumpster diving” while the
child was in the vehicle.
She returned home around 5:40 a.m. on
Saturday and left the baby in the vehicle when she went inside the home and
went to bed. Case awoke around 1:30 p.m. when the baby’s grandmother came to
the residence to see him.
She woke Case up by banging on the door
when she couldn’t find her grandchild. They searched for the baby and found
him in the car, Young said.
Instead of seeking immediate medical
help, Case took the child in the home and placed him in the shower. The
grandmother called 911, loaded the child in the car with Case, and met
Athens Police at the Recreation Center at Highway 251 and Highway 31.
Investigators developed probable cause to arrest Case for murder and
transported her to the Limestone County Jail.
Young said Case is a
known drug user and was out of jail on bond for a first-degree robbery.
Sunny King Honda
No criminal intent in death of 11-month-old left in
hot car at Oxford dealership, chief says
The evidence will be sent to
prosecutors for review and then presented to a grand jury for indictment
consideration.
The boy is at least the 49th child to die in the U.S.
this year after being left in a hot car, and third in Alabama in 2019.
“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.