An Illinois woman is facing criminal charges after her newborn was discovered dead in a heated car with no air conditioning or ventilation, authorities said.
Andrea Luncsford, 25, of Chicago, was arrested and charged with endangering a child’s health and life, according to a statement from the Peoria Police Department.
Grayson Luncsford, a one-month-old boy from Chicago, died of dehydration and exposure to high heat, Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood announced at a press conference on Tuesday, Sept. 16, according to local outlet WCBU.
Harwood stated that the baby had been kept in a vehicle without food or drink for a “extended period,” according to WCBU.
“An autopsy on little Grayson demonstrates that he suffered gross neglect due to severe hyperthermia and profound dehydration” Harwood claimed in The Kansas City Star.
According to the statement, officers responded to a complaint of a deceased baby at a home on the 2400 block of N. Peoria shortly after 7 p.m. on Monday.
“When officers arrived, they located a baby that was unresponsive and not breathing,” police said.
Harwood claimed he came shortly thereafter. According to WCBU, the baby was pronounced deceased on the scene at 7:38 p.m.
Harwood explained that the baby had been deceased for “quite some time” when he arrived.
According to Harwood, before police came, the baby’s grandfather took him out of a pickup truck and placed him in the yard.
He claimed he had no idea how long the infant had been in the car or when he died, according to WCBU.
During their investigation, detectives detained Luncsford, took her to the Peoria Police Department for questioning, and then arrested her, according to the statement.
She was subsequently taken to the Peoria County Jail, where she is still incarcerated, according to online jail records.
It is unknown whether she has retained an attorney to speak on her behalf.
Leaving infants and children in hot automobiles without air conditioning or ventilation is risky, Harwood said at the press conference.
“We’ve talked about safe sleep and the safe sleep suffocations that are preventable,” he said during the press conference, WCBU reports.
“This, too, is a preventable death,” added the physician. “When you have an infant or a kid in a car for any amount of time in this heat, the outcome is going to be as it is right now today, which is we have the death of a 1-month-old who has died because they were in a car with no air conditioning, no ventilation, no nutrition, no hydration.”
Harwood continued, “Even an adult would experience heat and dehydration.
“It’s going to happen a lot faster for an infant, unfortunately, because of body surface area and the makeup of their bodies and how fragile they are in their infancy anyway,” according to him.
This incident is still under investigation.
Anyone with information about this event can contact the Peoria Police Department at (309) 673-4521, tip411 (anonymously), or Crime Stoppers (anonymously) at (309) 673-9000.
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