Girl Left In Van Dies: 2-Year-Old Toddler Left In Van By Parents ‘For An Extended Period Of Time’

A 2-year-old girl who was left in a van dies after temperatures rose well into the 90s. The Roanoke Times reports that the 2-year-old toddler was in the van for “an extended period of time” on Sunday, police say. The vehicle was parked not running with the windows rolled up in southeast Roanoke at the 1500 block of Kenwood Boulevard Southeast.

Police officers and detectives have interviewed family members of the girl, as well as witnesses. Authorities have physical evidence from the driveway where the toddler died in the questionably hot van.

Police responded to a call around 4:30 pm Sunday afternoon that there was an unresponsive child. Roanoke Fire-EMS pronounced the unidentified girl dead at the scene.

KTWX 10 says in their report that it’s not certain heat was a factor in the girl’s death.

A medical examiner will perform an autopsy on the 2-year-old. Detectives are working with the city prosecutor’s office as the investigation moves forward. So far, no charges have been filed.

City police spokesman Scott Leamon issued a statement Monday morning, saying:

“At this state of the investigation, it appears that the child… was accidentally left in the closed van by a parent for an extended period of time.”

According to the report, August 31 was the first day of the month that Roanoke reached up to 90 degrees, making the temperature mark by early afternoon, the National Weather Service reveals.

Due to the child’s age, her name isn’t being released.

The death and serious conditions of children left in hot cars, trucks, and vans have dominated headlines all summer. The Inquisitr has covered them in great detail. A freak event happened last week when a 911 dispatcher didn’t help right away when a mother accidentally locked her 10-month-old in the car while she moved a shopping cart in the store’s parking lot. The 911 operator is being investigated for the response.

Several other children who’ve been left in hot vehicles this season were blamed on people you wouldn’t imagine doing such a thing on high-temperature days. Aside from the parents, other presumably safe caretakers have left babies and toddlers in cars unattended. A young nanny left two children in a hot car while she went tanning. One foster mother left a child inside the car so she could run inside and grab some milk. When police arrived, she told them she wasn’t gone very long and that the car was running. The children in these stories luckily made it out alive, but suffered the unforgiving temperatures.

[Image via Wheelchair Driver]