Mom ‘forgot’ — Details in NJ case of baby left to die in hot car

☀️ Livia Patelli left her infant daughter in her car when she arrived at work

☀️ The child later died after being left in the car for hours

EAST HANOVER — The mother of an infant who died after being left inside a parked vehicle on July 17 told police she "forgot" to drop her daughter off at daycare, officials said.

Livia Patelli, 33, of Roseland, left her daughter inside her vehicle at her job on South Ridgedale Avenue in East Hanover for four-and-a-half-hours on July 17, according to Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll. Patelli was charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child and was released Thursday following a detention hearing.

According to the affidavit of probably cause, Patelli had been dropping her six-month-old daughter at a child care center before heading to work for the past two months. Patelli would leave the child seat at the childcare center.

The morning of July 17, Patelli arrived at work around 8:30 a.m. She told police her child care provider did not notify her until around 1:10 p.m. that her daughter was not present, investigators said.

Surveillance video shows Patelli immediately went to her vehicle but did not try to help her daughter or open the door. She went back to her office and returned several minutes later with co-workers who tried to help the baby before the arrival of first responders. All the windows were closed but the sunroof was open.

Her daughter's internal temperature was 109.9 degrees, investigators said. The heat index was 101 degrees at the time the child was discovered.

The affidavit did not disclose what may have caused Patelli's routine to be disrupted or why the child care center did not notice the infant was not present for over four hours.

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Similar tragedy not limited to New Jersey

A six-month-old was left inside a car by a parent who also forgot to drop their child at childcare on the way to work, the East Baton Rouge, Louisiana Sheriff's Department told ABC News. The parent didn't realize the mistake until heading to childcare to pick the infant up.

According to noheatstroke.org, over the past 26 years, 52% of all children who died due to car-related heat strokes were unknowingly left by their caregivers; 20% were knowingly left.

“A child’s body temperature escalates much quicker than an adult’s," according to AAA.

On an average 80-degree day, the temperature inside of a car can increase 20 degrees in 10 minutes, reaching a deadly 109 degrees in around 20 minutes. On even hotter days like recent heat waves that have been hitting New Jersey, a vehicle's interior can easily hit 120 to 140 degrees, AAA reports.

AAA Northeast recommends several steps for parents and caregivers traveling with children to avoid tragedy.

• Stop and look at the backseat before exiting a parked vehicle. Make it a habit to check the entire vehicle before locking the doors and walking away.
• Create reminders. Keep a stuffed animal or other memento in your child’s car seat when it’s empty and move it to the front seat as a visual reminder when your child is in the back seat. Or, place and secure your phone, purse or backpack in the backseat when traveling with your child.
• Ask childcare providers to immediately call if your child doesn’t show up for care as expected.

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