A change to NJ dad’s routine ended with helpless baby dying in car

✅ Infant dies after father forgets to drop him at childcare
✅ Father used a hat as a reminder but left baby behind
✅ The sitter’s text came too late to save baby

LAKEWOOD — Hours before a 4-month-old baby was left behind in a sweltering SUV, ultimately to lose his life, it had been a hectic morning for his parents. More so than usual.

Police found the infant "in distress" around 1:45 p.m. March 18 on 5th Street. He was taken to Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood, where he was pronounced dead.

His father, Moshe Ehrlich, 35, turned himself in to Lakewood police the next day.

A change in routine

According to the affidavit obtained by New Jersey 101.5, Ehrlich's wife told investigators that he was tasked with dropping off four of his six children at school, which was one more child than usual as their 6-year-old son had missed the bus.

He was driving the family's Toyota Sienna instead of the Camry he usually drove.

Moshe called his wife at her workplace to say he had forgotten the infant's milk and had to return home. His wife assumed he would drop their son off at the babysitter around 11 a.m.

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'Where is your baby?'

The sitter texted Ehrlich's wife around 12:18 p.m. to say that the infant had not been dropped off. She did not see the message until 1:30 p.m., investigators said.

She called her husband, who didn't respond, and then tried the number of the school where her husband works.

Just before getting the call from his wife, the sitter's son asked Ehrlich "where is your baby," which prompted Ehrlich to run his vehicle and call Hatzolah, a Jewish ambulance service.

The sitter also told her son to go to the school and find Ehrlich, investigators said.

Ehrlich told police that he had decided to drop the other children off before returning home to pick up the milk. He then went to school and forgot to drop off his son at the sitter, he said.

The sitter told police that the parents are usually very attentive to their children.

The father told police that he had placed a hat in the passenger seat as a reminder that his son was in the back seat and needed to be dropped off.

Ehrlich was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and released from custody. He was ordered to surrender his passport, according to an order obtained by NJ.com.

The outdoor temperature was 67.8 degrees that day but 96.2 degrees inside the vehicle.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ