The parents of an 18-month-old who authorities say suffered “an absolutely torturous death” after being left in a hot car while they slept after a July 4 party have been charged.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a press conference Thursday that Joel and Jazmine Rondon, both 33, of Lakeland, Florida, have been charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child, a first-degree felony.
“You know there’s many different kinds of press conferences that we do from this podium but the one I’m going to talk about today is one of the most horrible, tragic deaths that we’ve seen in a very long time,” Judd said.
Judd revealed the Rondons had attended a July 4 party with their children, an 8-year-old, 6-year-old, and an 18-month-old girl. When they returned home from the party at 2 a.m., Jazmine asked Joel to bring the toddler inside the house while she fed and prepared the older children for bed.
According to Judd, Joel, after removing food trays from the car, assumed the toddler had been taken out of the car because he noticed the right rear door of the car had been closed. Neither parents confirmed she had been brought inside. When Joel woke up to discover the toddler was missing at 10 a.m., he realized she had been left in the car, still strapped in her carseat.
“The car was outside, not in a garage, not under a tree, not under any shade at all,” Judd said. “Research shows us the temperature of the car could be anywhere between 130 and 170 degrees at that time.”
The couple rushed the toddler to a hospital despite it being “painfully evident that this child has suffered an absolutely torturous death.” The hospital tried life-saving maneuvers including cooling the body of the child down. Even after the body was cooled, three hours after being taken out of the hot car, she still had a core temperature of 104.4 degrees.
“The parents are remorseful that the child is dead,” Judd said. “But I think the real remorse will be tonight when they’re sitting in the county jail, in an air-conditioned environment by themselves, thinking ‘it’s nice and cool here when my baby baked to death because of my negligence and my use of drugs.’ They will have have to be held accountable for such horrible conduct.”
Both parents tested positive for alcohol and marijuana, and Joel also tested positive for meth. The test was taken 17 hours after the couple arrived home from the party.
“You can imagine what kind of shape that they were in when they arrived home from this party and left this child harnessed in the baby seat in the back of the car,” Judd said.
“It’s just a train wreck, it’s a disaster waiting to happen,” Judd fumed.
“This child is 18 months old, she’s not old enough to let herself out of the harness but she’s certainly old enough to realize that she is suffering a torturous death at the negligence of Joel and Jazmine. This rips your heart out, there’s no other way to explain it.”
The investigation is ongoing.