A toddler is dead after being left in a hot car for several hours while his mother went to get lip fillers, police confirmed.
Maya Hernandez, 20, has been charged with child cruelty and involuntary manslaughter after leaving her two sons, one-year-old Amillio Gutierrez, and his two-year-old brother inside a parked car as temperatures went up to 101 degrees.
The incident took place on June 29, in Bakersfield, California.
According to authorities, Hernandez had called and asked the beauty spa in the morning whether she could bring her children inside with her. She was told that she could, as long as she didn’t mind them sit in the waiting room.
Instead of bringing her children inside the spa with her, however, she chose to leave them in the car.
They were both strapped in their car seats while she went and got lip fillers.
While the beauty procedure only took around 20 minutes, the med spa was busy that day and it wasn’t until two and half hours later that Hernandez returned to her car.
She never checked on her toddlers during that period.
When she finally got back to her car at approximately 4:30 p.m., she saw Amillio suffering what seemed to be a seizure; he was also foaming at the mouth.
Employees from the beauty spa immediately rushed outside and brought the older child inside the building to cool down.
Medics soon arrived at the scene and upon checking, Amillio’s body temperature was 107 degrees. He was brought to a local hospital and pronounced dead shortly afterward.
His older brother survived and is currently in child protective custody.
Hernandez later told police she believed the children would be safe in the car as she had left the AC running.
However, her vehicle, a 2022 Toyota Corolla hybrid, has a shut-off feature that automatically turns the engine off after an hour. This meant that by the time she returned to the car, the AC had been off for one and a half hours.
Amillio’s grandmother, Katie Martinez, is heartbroken and said “[the boys] couldn’t even get up to save themselves.”
When Hernandez was told of her son’s death, she admitted that “it was irresponsible to leave the toddlers in the car.” She said she had thought about it for a second when she got out, but ultimately decided to leave them inside.
A GoFundMe has since been set up to raise funds for the boy’s funeral. According to the page, the boys’ father is also currently incarcerated.
Hernandez remains in custody on bail set at over $1 million and is scheduled to appear in court on July 14.
