California woman arrested after 3-year-old daughter dies in hot car

A California woman has been arrested after her 3-year-old daughter died in a hot car she was also in.

Sandra Hernandez, 41, has been formally charged in the death of her daughter. The incident took place last Friday, when both were found unconscious inside the car, which was turned off. They were both taken to a hospital nearby, but the child died shortly after, likely as a result of the heat. Temperatures reached 104 °F on that day.

Anaheim police also informed that they found empty bottles of alcohol in the car. According to Hernandez's aunt, she was set to pick up her 5-year-old son from school and her relatives didn't realize the other child was in the car as well.

The case took place shortly before a similar one in Arizona, where a 4-year-old girl died after being found unresponsive in a hot car in Buckeye on Sunday evening, marking the third such child fatality in Arizona this year and the 31st nationwide.

According to Buckeye Police, officers were called to a home near Verrado Way and McDowell Road at approximately 5 p.m. after a family member discovered the child inside a parked mini SUV. The family had returned home from a neighborhood park between 2 and 2:30 p.m. when the girl was inadvertently left behind. A relative realized she was missing just before 5 p.m. and found her unresponsive in the vehicle.

Authorities reported that the temperature outside at the time was 107 degrees, while the temperature inside the vehicle had soared to 130 degrees.

The inside of a car can act like a greenhouse, causing temperatures to rise rapidly—by 20 degrees in just 10 minutes and by up to 50 degrees in under an hour, the National Weather Service warns.

This intense heat can lead to hyperthermia or heat stroke within minutes, especially in children, whose body temperatures increase three to five times faster than adults, according to the weather service's website. Cracking windows provides little relief, studies show.

According to Kids and Car Safety, this is the 31st hot car death of a child in the U.S. this year, and the third in Arizona. From 1990 to 2023, 1,083 children have died nationwide after being left in hot vehicles.