An infant was found dead inside a locked car for nearly nine hours on Wednesday in the parking lot of the Georgia hospital where his mother worked. Lawrenceville Police identified the child’s mother as Dejah Coleman, 29, who forgot that her one-year-old son was still in the back seat after she dropped off her two older children at daycare earlier that morning.

The Lawrenceville Police Department announced on Thursday that Coleman is charged with second-degree murder and second-degree felony cruelty to children and is being held at the Gwinnett County Jail, Fox5 Atlanta reported.

Coleman was arrested after police officers responded to a call on July 29 at around 3.50 p.m. about an unresponsive child locked inside a vehicle in Northside Gwinnett Hospital’s employee parking lot. Upon arrival, they broke a window to reach the one-year-old boy and performed life-saving measures right away, but it was too late.

Coleman reportedly told investigators that, as always, she had driven her three children to Starlight Academy Daycare in the morning. She described her routine as taking her two older children, ages six and four years, inside first, since the six-year-old had special needs. Normally, she would return to the car later for the baby. This time, however, she said, the second trip slipped her mind.

Surveillance footage also supports her account. It showed Coleman pulling into the hospital’s parking lot and checking in at around 6.50 a.m., after which she didn’t leave the building. Nobody noticed anything was wrong until a coworker, who was returning to her own vehicle in the afternoon, saw the toddler slumped in his car seat and called 911.

Police officers working part-time at the hospital reached the scene immediately and pulled the boy out. The mother was identified by running the car’s license plate. Captain Dena Pauly said she was “devastated” after learning about her son’s death.

 

“Slow down. Slow down in life. If you need help, seek help. Make sure you’re getting enough sleep. Make sure you’re taking care of yourself so that you can take care of your children,” Capt Pauly said. 

The temperature on Wednesday, an hour after breaking the window and removing the child, still showed 117 degrees. 

The medical examiner’s office, the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office, and the state’s child welfare agency, DFACS, were all notified of the incident. No official cause of death has been revealed, and it is also unclear whether Coleman will be granted bond.

For now, her two older children are staying with their father while the case makes its way through the courts.

Notably, there have been a total of 17 pediatric hot car deaths in the U.S. so far, according to the National Safety Council, much higher than the 34 child deaths in the entire year of 2025. 

Disclaimer: The Inquisitr could not independently confirm the facts of this incident and is reporting based on the information available within the public record.