Baby, Toddler Die in Hot Cars Parked Outside Their Homes

Two more young children died this week in hot cars that were parked outside the family homes:

• A coroner says the parents of 3-year-old girl who died in a hot car in central Indiana thought she was asleep inside their home, the AP reports. Madison County Coroner Marian Dunnichay says Hannah Grace Miller had a high core body temperature when she was pronounced dead at a hospital Sunday evening. Dunnichay tells WTHR-TV that the family went to church, ate breakfast and bought groceries, and when they returned home the parents carried the groceries inside. They believed Hannah had gone inside with her two brothers and that the three siblings were sleeping. The Herald Bulletin reports the boys awoke two hours later and discovered Hannah missing. Their father found her in the car, submerged her in water and performed CPR.

• In Texas, 9-month-old Maria Solorio died Monday after a morning out with her family, ABC News reports. The Harris County sheriff says that after attending medical appointments and returning home, "in the hustle and bustle of getting kids out and attending to other things, they apparently forgot that the nine-[month]-old had been left inside the vehicle," People reports The girl's two siblings exited the family pickup truck, but her parents each believed the other had taken her out. They realized she was missing about an hour after returning home and found her in the truck. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Two similar deaths had already made headlines in recent weeks, a 3-year-old boy in Canada and a 1-year-old girl in Nashville, both of whom may have been forgotten in the cars by their fathers. As temperatures rise, news outlets are reminding parents of the dangers of "Forgotten Baby Syndrome," noting that even on a 75-degree day, the temperature inside a car can reach levels fatal for an infant in 15 minutes. An in-depth 2009 Washington Post article explains how distracted parents sometimes accidentally leave children in the car. (More child dies in hot car stories.)