2-year-old girl dies in Roanoke after being left in car seat in closed van

Posted: Monday, September 1, 2014 11:20 am | Updated: 11:55 am, Mon Sep 1, 2014.

By Brian Kelley

A 2-year-old girl died Sunday after being left in a car seat in a parked, closed van in southeast Roanoke, city police said Monday.

Police officers and detective have interviewed family members of the child and witnesses, and gathered physical evidence from the driveway where the toddler died in the 1500 block of Kenwood Boulevard Southeast.

Officers were called to that location around 4:30 p.m. Sunday on a report of an unresponsive child. Roanoke Fire-EMS got there first and determined the child had died.

Sunday marked the first day in August that the high temperature in Roanoke made it to 90 degrees, hitting that mark in the early afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. The temperature was still in the upper 80s by late afternoon.

"At this state of the investigation, it appears that the child ... was accidentally left in the closed van by a parent for an extended period of time," according to a news release issued Monday morning by Scott Leamon, city police spokesman.

The child's name would not be released because of her age, Leamon said.

The child's body was taken to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy. Detectives are consulting with the city prosecutor's office as they continue their investigation. No charges have been filed, Leamon said.