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| In addition to child abuse charges in her son's death, Jessica Quezada has been charged with possession of a controlled substance |
Baby left in car, The parents of a California 4-month old who died after he was left in a hot car overnight have been arrested and each booked into jail on one count of willful cruelty to a child resulting in injury/death in the boy's death.
Additionally, the boy's mother, 23-year-old Jessica Quezada, also was booked into the Las Colinas Detention Facility in San Diego on one count of possession of a controlled substance.
According to authorities, Quezada and the boy's father, 30-year-old Israel Soto, returned home from shopping on Friday afternoon with the baby in their vehicle.
The couple then went inside of their home in an apartment complex in the 500 block of North Mollison Avenue, but apparently had forgotten about the boy and left him in the car.
On Saturday, about 1:30 pm, an unidentified family member found the 4-month-old unresponsive inside the hot vehicle and called 9-1-1.
'In this particular case, it was an extreme case, of a child left overnight, not just a few hours,' said El Cajon Police Department spokeswoman Monica Zech. 'It gets to a point where heat stroke is very deadly, and that's definitely what happened in this case. Let alone the poor child was probably very hungry. At the same time, that poor child is just cooking, basically cooking in that car.'
The boy's father reportedly performed CPR in an attempt to revive the unresponsive child - as did first responders - but to no avail.
The boy was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital a short time later.
When the boy was discovered - at 1 p.m. Saturday - it was 80 degrees outside in San Diego, which is more than enough to give a child locked in a car heat stroke, according to experts.
Larry Singleton, who lives in the same apartment complex as the couple, told NBC 7 that he was stunned to learn that parents could leave a child in a car overnight.
'It's ridiculous, it's ludicrous. I don't understand it,' he said.
The county's medical examiner will now determine the specific cause of the baby's death.
Authorities say the couple has three other children - ages 1, 2 and 3 - who have been placed in the custody of Child Protective Services.
The couple is expected to appear in court Wednesday.
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