An 11-month-old infant and a dog were left inside a car over several hours, where they both perished, according to Virginia police, who then arrested the mom.
According to a Facebook post by the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office in Yorktown, caregiver Kristen Danielle Graham, 40, of Seaford, was detained last night, September 12, 2023, on one felony crime of child neglect and one misdemeanor count of animal cruelty.
The medical examiner’s office is determining the cause of death, according to the post, and an investigation is ongoing.
The youngster was a baby girl named Myrical, according to a sheriff’s office official.
In a news conference, York County Sheriff Ron Montgomery revealed that on Tuesday afternoon, authorities were called to a hospital in Newport News, Virginia, after a senior citizen went to the emergency department and reported a dead child in his car.
The baby was in a black trash bag when staff members stepped outside and discovered it.
As the baby’s carer, Kristen Danielle Graham of Yorktown has been detained by the police.
Montgomery claimed that Graham had been looking after the infant for roughly two days. He said the mother of the child is 17 years old. According to Montgomery, Graham frequently took care of the child, sometimes for intervals of weeks.
According to the sheriff, Tuesday morning about one in the morning, Graham received a call from a friend asking her to deliver smokes to a house in Newport News where the buddy was looking after an elderly man.
The 11-month-old toddler and a small dog were placed in the back of the car and driven to Newport News, where they visited a 7-Eleven and bought smokes and a bottle of apple juice, according to Montgomery.
Then, according to him, Graham drove to the friend’s house, where she spent “some time.”
Around eight in the morning, according to Montgomery, Graham brought the infant home.
He claimed that once she returned home, she left the youngster and the dog inside the car while rolling up the windows and turning off the engine. According to Montgomery, the caregiver was awakened by a phone call some time between 2 and 2:30 p.m. and walked outside “to then check on the child, who was at that point deceased.”
According to Montgomery, the infant was brought inside the home and first placed in a black plastic bag by the person who took her to the hospital.