Authorities have reported the death of a baby and a dog left in a hot car by their caretaker for six hours in Virginia on Wednesday.
Police were called to Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News at around 4 p.m. on Tuesday after a man came to the emergency room and said he had a “deceased child” in the back of his vehicle.
According to York-Poquoson Sheriff Ron Montgomery, Emergency room personnel found the 11-month-old baby’s body in a black plastic trash bag.
The child’s mother is a 17-year-old woman whose identity was not disclosed.
The baby had been in the care of babysitter Kristen Graham. Graham, 40, had been caring for the child for about two days, but would periodically “take care of the child sometimes for weeks at a time,” Montgomery said.
Graham had gone out to visit a friend and she stayed a while. At around 8 a.m., she returned home with the child and dog.
Once arriving home, Graham rolled up the windows on the car, turned the vehicle off, and left the dog and the child in the vehicle, Montgomery said. Graham then went to sleep and was awakened at 2:30 p.m. by a phone call.
At that point, she “went outside to then check on the child, who was at that point deceased,” Montgomery said. The child was brought into the house before being transported to the hospital.
Graham was arrested at her home on Wednesday. She has been charged with felony child neglect, a class four felony, and animal cruelty, a class one misdemeanor.