Disaster 9-year-old Texas girl dies in hot car while mother was at work: Police - 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.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/9-year-texas-girl-dies-hot-car-mother/story?id=123408734
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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.
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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.

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.

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."
 
Place of work looks to be the United States Gypsum plant 1201 Mayo Shell Rd, Galena Park, TX 77547
Mother says she left a window partially open and water.

Mom is free until autopsy
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- The Harris County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday that the mother accused of leaving her 9-year-old daughter in a hot car Tuesday is no longer detained or arrested on any charges as they await autopsy results.

"We've documented 166 children that have died in Texas since 1990 in hot cars -- 33 of those happened in Harris County, and sadly, Texas leads the nation when it comes to these tragedies by a pretty large margin," Amber Rollins, director for Kids and Car Safety, said.

The sheriff's office said the 36-year-old mother left her daughter alone in her hot vehicle with water and the windows partially rolled down for around eight hours in Galena Park.
 
Theories about it being an illegal or the kid is handicapped in some way are the only things that make sense. A nine year old can certainly get themselves out of a hot car unless they were too scared or somehow unable (whether drugs or severely handicapped). If it’s an illegal I’m sure it’ll be spun as Trumps fault because the mom just had to work but worried about the Gestapo showing up so the kid had to sit in the car all day.
 
Yeah and anyone who has left their drink in a car can tell you that water was gonna get pretty hot and unsavory pretty quick.
No mention of leaving food, either. A 9 year old is likely going to be hungry, thirsty, and need to use the toilet over a period of 8 hours.

I feel like we have very incomplete information.

It shit's me that when this stuff happens here losing their children is perceived as "punishment enough" for the parents.
 
and need to use the toilet over a period of 8 hours.
I don’t like the implications this just put in my head. Because at best this kid was left with a Porta potty and told horrible things would happen if she left. At worst she was drugged up with a diaper taped on her and left to suffer.
 
Reminds me of the case where a severly disabled girl was left to die in a hot car while the mom was having methed out sex with her boyfriend. Really wonder what kept her staying in that car. Drugs, disability or simply not realising the child locks are only in the back. Poor thing :( hope they "forget" the mom in a squad car on a nice Texas summer day for a bit
 
In what universe could this woman possibly think she can justify leaving a kid of any age in a car for that period of time in texas in fucking july and claim with a straight face that she thought it was going to end well for the kid?1 I wouldn't do that in a canadian winter let alone fucking texas in summer. That kid must have gone through absolute hell

There is absolutely no excuse for this. Texas needs to make an example of that psycho bitch. Give her the death penalty. There is no sane jury on earth, let alone in texas, that wouldn't demand this bitch fry
 
A 9 year old could easily get out of the car, even if she had to climb over a seat or push a lever or something to do it. Unless she was drugged or severely disabled to start with.

When I was 9 my parents wanted to go somewhere and didn't want to call over the grandparents, so I was in charge. Microwaved us some KidCuisine tendies and heated some creamed corn on the stovetop, washed the dishes, and watched Alf.
 
I'm honestly baffled by how did this happen. Babies and toddlers are stuck in their seats but 9 year old is plenty old enough to open the door and step out. That's what I did if I choose to stay at car when parents went a store or something on a hot day. Did she fall asleep?

Also why wasn't she just left home alone? That's what I did at summers and I just adored independence. I know US can retarded about kids being by themselves but it would have been way safer than being hours alone in a car.
Child locks in the back? Maybe she fell asleep and died in her sleep? Maybe she was afraid her spic mom would abuse her if she left, like she clearly was abusing the kid here.
 
In what universe could this woman possibly think she can justify leaving a kid of any age in a car for that period of time in texas in fucking july and claim with a straight face that she thought it was going to end well for the
Obviously in Drumfs universe were Nazis do horrible things like force illigals to put their children in life threataning situations in order to stay in the US.
 
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Maybe they are living out of the car. A growing number of people are doing this even while employed. Rent is getting pretty bad.

Or frankly if they have a place it could likely be unsafe without supervision thanks to god knows what criminal activity going on there. Drugs or abusive partners or excon neighbors.
as sad as it is there are many reasons why someone would do this. schools out and daycare is expensive. maybe the relatives that would watch the kid are abusive. shit summer school is the only place some kids get fucking food.

There's been a pretty solid wave of this exact story every summer as long as I can remember

Sadly it seems like a statistical inevitability at this rate
it seems to be getting better. 2018 and 2019 saw 50+ kids die in a hot car, were at 15 now and hopefully it doesnt creep too high
 
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