9-month-old dies after grandmother left infant in hot car for hours in Texas, police say

An infant was found deceased in Texas after her grandmother left the child in a hot car for hours, officials say.

The grandmother put the 9-month-old in a car seat in the back of her vehicle around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in Beeville, about 90 miles southeast of San Antonio, according to police in a Facebook post. The woman discovered the unresponsive child hours later, around 4 p.m.

Local news reported that the grandmother was babysitting the child while the parents were at work. She was holding the infant when authorities arrived at the scene, the reports said. It was more than 100 degrees that day, according to The Weather Channel.

Beeville Police and the Department of Public Safety Texas are investigating the incident. It's being looked at as a criminal homicide, officials noted in the Facebook post.

"No charges have been filed in connection to this case at this time, but such charges are expected to be filed," police added.

USA TODAY reached out to Beeville Police for more information.

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Interior car temperatures are higher than outside

While the majority of these tragedies occur during the summer, deaths have been recorded in every month, according to TC Palm, part of USA TODAY Network.

Research has shown that vehicles become dangerously hot quickly, even when the outside temperature is moderate. With an outside ambient air temperature of 72 degrees, the internal vehicle temperature can reach 117 within 60 minutes, with 80% of the temperature increase occurring in the first 30 minutes, the National Safety Council said.

In general, after 60 minutes, one can expect a 40-degree average increase in internal temperatures for ambient temperatures between 72 and 96 degrees.

Interior vehicle temperatures can be 50 degrees higher than outside temperatures. Even on a cool day when the outside temperature is 61, within an hour, the inside temperature of a car reaches more than 105, according to Consumer Reports.

On a 72-degree day, a car's interior can be deadly in less than 30 minutes, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. 

The danger from high temperatures is particularly acute for young children because their bodies heat up three to five times faster than adult bodies, the American Academy of Pediatrics said. 

Heatstroke in children can happen when their core temperature reaches about 104 degrees. A child can die if their internal body temperature reaches 107 degrees, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected].