DECATUR – Two Adams County parents have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms for the death of their two-year-old child in December 2024.
Jace Hirschy, 24, and Sintia Perez, 22, both pleaded guilty in Adams Circuit Court to charges of Neglect of a Dependent Resulting in Death, as well as two additional counts of Neglect of a Dependent. The court accepted plea agreements that required each to serve 40 years in the Indiana Department of Correction, with 10 years suspended. The remaining 30 years will be served in prison, followed by two years of formal probation when they are released.
Hirschy was sentenced on June 27; Perez was sentenced on July 1.
The charges stem from a tragic incident on December 4, 2024, when Berne police and emergency responders were dispatched to an apartment after Hirschy requested medical care for his child. The toddler was discovered dead inside a crib in a closet, with the closet door nearly closed and a space heater running nearby.
Investigators discovered that the child had been left unattended in the confined space with the heater turned on overnight, causing the temperature inside the closet to rise above 100 degrees.
Temperature readings taken at the scene, including those on the child’s body, confirmed exposure to high temperatures. An autopsy later revealed that the child died from hyperthermia, which is a dangerously high body temperature caused by prolonged heat exposure.
Perez, the child’s mother, was also present in the house during the incident. Following the discovery, the Indiana Department of Child Services removed two other children from the residence to ensure their safety.
Within days of the child’s death, the Adams County Prosecutor’s Office filed formal charges against both parents, launching a case that has raised community concerns about child safety and neglect.
Hirschy and Perez will remain in state custody as they begin serving their 30-year execution sentences.
