The Daily Populous Thursday July 3rd, 2025 evening edition
Authored by abcnews.go.com and submitted by jeetah

The child was left in the car approximately from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., police said.

Officials are investigating the death of a 9-year-old girl, who was intentionally left alone in a hot car while her mom was at work, July, 1 2025, in Houston.

A 9-year-old girl has died in after she was intentionally left alone in a hot car while her mom was at work, according to Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

The girl's 36-year-old mother left the child unattended in a white Toyota Camry on Tuesday from approximately 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. while she worked at a manufacturing plant in Galena Park, Texas, near Houston, the sheriff's office said during a press conference.

The mother left the child with some water, partially rolled down the windows of the vehicle and then "proceeded to go to work for the day," officials said.

"There's never an excuse to leave a child unattended," Gonzalez said during the press conference.

Upon returning to the vehicle later in the afternoon when her shift ended, the mother found her daughter unresponsive. Law enforcement was contacted at approximately 2:06 p.m. and detained the mother, officials said. Temperatures in the Houston area reached around 93 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.

The child was transported to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead, officials said.

Officials are investigating the death of a 9-year-old girl, who was intentionally left alone in a hot car while her mom was at work, July, 1 2025, in Houston. KTRK

Detectives continue to speak with the mother to gain more insight on why the child was kept in the car and the exact timeline of how long she was alone in the vehicle, the sheriff said. Officials are also waiting to receive the child's autopsy results before deciding whether to press any charges.

On Thursday, officials told ABC News the mother is no longer under detainment as the autopsy results are still pending and the Harris County District Attorney's Office will decide on any charges regarding the incident.

Gonzalez said the incident, "which could have been prevented," is a "unique" situation, since most hot car deaths are typically an accident.

"Maybe she has to make ends meet and keep food on the table and work. But the risk of death or harm -- there's just no reconciling that in my mind. You got to make other arrangements. It's not worth it to put a child at risk like this, for any particular reason," Gonzalez said.

He went on to say that nothing at this point shows that the mother "thought this would be the outcome."

This tragedy marks the third hot car death to occur in Texas in the last four days and at least the 13th child to die in a hot car nationwide this year, according to Kids and Car Safety, an organization focused on "saving the lives of children and pets in and around vehicles."

PianoMan17 on July 3rd, 2025 at 14:19 UTC »

Saw another sub yesterday where several people were lamenting paying $50k/year for childcare. I’m willing to bet this poor woman doesn’t make that in a year. Awful.

FreighterTot on July 3rd, 2025 at 14:16 UTC »

For some perspective, I have experienced similar situations growing up. There was no childcare assistance, when my mother asked family for help they called cps and said she was leaving me home alone so she had to stop. Officers spoke to me at school and dropped in randomly at the apt a couple times. I ended up sitting in the car or rollerblading around her work for several weeks. It was not ideal, and she was not a very good mom, but I know that this was much better than being removed from her care and placed in the system. But the only reason I feel that way is because I was lucky and nothing ever happened to me.

So maybe the mom assumed the child would open the door as needed like my mom did. Maybe the mom was overly strict and the child was afraid to open the door. This is 100% on the mom, but if we are thinking toward the future, we have to have other alternatives for people to make the right choices

fascinatedobserver on July 3rd, 2025 at 13:47 UTC »

It’s easy to doze off in a hot car and die. Everyone saying she was disabled or mentally challenged is ignoring the fact that a 9 year old was told to sit tight and wait for a whole shift. What else was there to do but sleep? *especially since the shift started at 6am.