An 18-month-old Florida girl died a “torturous death” after she was left in a hot car following a Fourth of July party in Lakeland.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said husband and wife Joel and Jazmine Rondon, both 33 years old, had returned to their home in Lakeland around 2 a.m. Wednesday, July 5, after spending the Fourth of July holiday with friends.
Once home, the couple began unloading food and items from the car. Jazmine reportedly told Joel to bring their 18-month-old inside while she put their two other children, aged 6 and 8, to bed.
When Joel returned to the car after bringing the items inside, he saw that all four doors to their Hyundai Elantra were closed and assumed Jazmine had gotten the toddler out.
Unbeknown to either parent, one child was still strapped inside the car. The couple laid down and went to sleep.
Joel woke up around 10 a.m. that morning and spent an hour getting ready for work. By 11 a.m. he asked his 8-year-old if they had seen the toddler. The child told Joel the baby was not in the bedroom, alerting Joel to a potential problem.
Joel rushed outside and looked in the car parked in the driveway in the full sun.
To his surprise, the toddler was still strapped in her car seat and unresponsive. He brought the toddler into the house in a panic, then rushed the child to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center.
“Even though it’s painfully evident that this child has suffered an absolute torturous death, Lakeland Regional still worked on the baby to try to save its life. But it in fact was deceased,” Judd said.
Three hours after the child was taken out of the hot car, her internal body temperature was recorded at 104.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Seventeen hours after arriving home from the party, Jazmine tests positive for alcohol and marijuana. Joel tests positive for alcohol, marijuana, and methamphetamines,” Judd noted. “Seventeen hours later — So you can imagine what kind of shape they were in when they arrived from this party and left this child harnessed in the baby seat.”
An autopsy later determined that the toddler’s cause of death was hyperthermia due to being left in a car. The manner of death was ruled a homicide. Joel and Jazmine were arrested for aggravated manslaughter of a child on July 6, and taken to the Polk County Jail.
“This is not an accident,” Judd insisted. “This is pure negligence and I suggest to you the core of the negligence is the abuse of drugs. Who suffered? Who died? The 18-month-old baby. So don’t ever tell me that these drugs are low-level and non-violent because they’re at the core of why this child is dead today.”
Joel’s criminal history dates back to 2003 including seven separate arrests ranging from criminal mischief to attempted murder. Jazmine had no arrests prior to the incident.
Tell us your thoughts...