4-year-old girl dies after being found in hot car in Buckeye, third such incident in Arizona this year

A 4-year-old girl has 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.

"It is believed she was unaccounted for approximately two hours," the police said. Life-saving measures were attempted before the child was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

No arrests have been made, and no one is currently in custody. Buckeye police are continuing their investigation and working to establish a timeline of events.

"Calls like these are difficult for everyone involved: the families, the first responders, and the community. Nobody wants to hear this news," said Buckeye Police Public Information Officer Carissa Planalp to KTVK. "In this extreme heat, temperatures are nothing to play with, and time is absolutely of the essence."

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.