A Texas woman is in jail after police say she deliberately left her infant locked inside a hot car with no air conditioning, resulting in the child’s death.
Vanessa Esquivel, 27, was charged with murder in Frisco, police said in a statement on Thursday. According to law enforcement, Esquivel’s child died on August 16 after he “intentionally” left the baby in the car for hours as temperatures reached the mid-90s.
Esquivel “had arrived at her work in the 3200 block of Preston Road at approximately 2:00 p.m.,” according to the police statement. “At that time, detectives believe Esquivel intentionally left her 15-month-old child for over two hours in a vehicle she knew did not have working air conditioning with an outside temperature of at least 95 degrees.”
According to weather tracking services, the high temperature in Dallas that day was 96 degrees.
Investigators were notified of the infant’s death after being called to the Medical City Plano hospital. Police say Esquivel’s actions in Frisco, a city in the northern part of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, put the child in danger and caused injury, resulting in the baby’s death.
Esquivel was arrested on August 20, according to the statement. According to online records, she was still in custody at the Collin County Jail on Friday, with a $250,000 bond.
Esquivel’s court and jail records show that he has no upcoming court dates.
If convicted, she faces a five-year to life sentence.
