News

Parents Say Baby Who Died in Hot Car Was Left for 15 Hours Because of a 'Miscommunication'

NewsPublished Jun 7, 2019
By Kaitlin Stanford
Joseline EichelbergerGoFundMe

Yet another hot car death has been reported this week, this one in Missouri. This time, the victim is an 11-month-old, who was found unresponsive after being left in a car alone for 15 to 16 hours. According to People, the baby girl had been accidentally left inside the vehicle, which was parked in the driveway of a home in Calverton Park.

By the time the child's body was discovered on Sunday, it was after 4 p.m., which means she'd been left inside as temperatures soared to 79 degrees.

First responders immediately rushed to the scene but were unable to revive little Joseline Eichelberger. 

The cause of death was sadly no surprise: “Unfortunately the child passed away from the heat,” said Chris Robertson, a spokesperson for Calverton Park Police. He added that although temperatures outside reached 79, they were much hotter inside the car.

The parents are said to be "traumatized" by what happened and insist it was a case of miscommunication between them.

Both parents were with the child the previous night, when they returned home with her sometime between midnight and 1 a.m., according to KSDK. But the details of what happened next remain murky.

“You have two young parents,” family friend Barbara Beckett told KMOV. “One telling one to get the child and other telling the other … you know, mistakes are made. It’s a nightmare. They are traumatized. They can’t stop crying.”

From the time she returned home late Saturday night, the mother reportedly didn't see her daughter again until she was recovered from the car.

It's this point of interest that continues to plague investigators and all who hear the story. After all, how could neither parent not know where their child was for 15 to 16 hours?

When Joseline was finally found, the 11-month-old, who was just days shy of celebrating her first birthday on Sunday, was "hot to the touch."

“It is absolutely heartbreaking when you have a life lost at any age," the police spokesperson said, "but when it is a child this young it really hits home ... "

“We see these stories regularly," Robertson continued, "especially when the heat starts to rise.”

Sadly, that's true. Joseline is the 10th child to have died in a hot car in 2019 so far, but that number is expected to grow. Each year, an average of 38 children will perish from heatstroke after being accidentally left inside a vehicle. And every single case is equally tragic.

Many of these cases happen during the summer or in warm-weather states such as Florida, where just last October, two children died inside hot cars on the same day. In fact, 2018 saw record numbers of hot car deaths among children, with 52 deaths reported.

It's why many local officials are pushing a "Look Before You Lock" campaign to remind parents and guardians to be vigilant about not leaving kids unattended in cars, especially as temperatures start to rise. 

Even short amounts of time in a hot car can be problematic, experts say. The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that children's bodies actually heat up three to five times faster than those of adults, which means they can be more severely affected by changes in temperature than we might think.

For now, no one has been arrested or charged in the death of little Joseline,

Robertson also says that although Calverton Park police “have a good picture of what happened," they can’t release the details just yet.

Meanwhile, Joseline's grandmother has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for funeral expenses, so the family can properly bury their sweet girl. So far, it's raised more than $400 of its $3,500 goal.

"My grandbaby Joseline passed away on June 2, 2019," a description on the page reads. "She's my angel, she always brighten everyones day with that great big smile of hers. Everyone even loved her as their own." 

A candlelight vigil has been set for Sunday on what would have been Joseline's first birthday.

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