1-year-old girl dies after being left in hot car for 9 hours; dad arrested for murder
St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office
(MADISONVILLVE, La.) — A Louisiana dad has been arrested for second-degree murder after he allegedly left his 1-year-old daughter in a hot car for over nine hours, authorities said.
The incident unfolded after Joseph Boatman “consumed multiple alcoholic beverages” and then went to pick up his 21-month-old daughter from a relative’s house shortly after 2:30 a.m. Sunday, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office said.
Boatman, 32, allegedly strapped his daughter into her car seat, went inside the Madisonville home and didn’t return to the car, the sheriff’s office said.
More than nine hours later, deputies were sent to the house after a family member found the toddler unresponsive in the car, authorities said.
The temperature in Madisonville climbed to 95 degrees on Sunday; the heat index — what temperature it feels like — reached 105 degrees.
“This is a devastating loss that no family ever wants to face,” Sheriff Randy Smith said in a statement. “When a child is left in a vehicle, especially on a day when the heat index climbs over 100 degrees, the outcome can turn deadly in a matter of minutes. This case involved compromised judgment, and the result was heartbreaking.”
The girl is the fifth child to die in a hot car in the U.S. this year, according to national nonprofit KidsAndCars.org.
On average, 38 children die in hot cars every year in the U.S. About 88% of them are 3 years old or younger, KidsAndCars.org said.
Click here for hot car safety tips to keep in mind this summer.
(CHELAN COUNTY, Wash.) — Three young sisters who were found dead near a Washington campground after they left home for a “planned visitation” with their father died from suffocation, authorities said Monday.
Paityn Decker, 9; Evelyn Decker, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5, were located on June 2 near the Rock Island Campground in Chelan County, Washington, following a search, police said.
An autopsy completed on Friday determined the girls’ cause of death to be suffocation and the manner of death is homicide, according to the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office.
The girls had each been found with plastic bags over the heads and their wrists were zip-tied, according to court documents previously obtained by ABC News.
Their father, Travis Decker, who is wanted for their murders, remains at large.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(DOUGLASVILLE, Ga) — A Georgia couple is now behind bars after allegedly leaving a 3-year-old alone in a backyard shed for weeks, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
Sarah Elizabeth Pombert, 34, and Joseph Matthew Turner, 35, were arrested on Monday after allegedly keeping 3-year-old Bjorn Turner in a backyard shed in Douglasville, Georgia, from May 1 to May 22, according to an arrest warrant obtained by ABC News on Friday.
The shed was described as a “dirty living space” that did not have running water or electricity, according to the warrant.
The suspects allegedly left the child “unsupervised, unbathed and unclothed with criminal negligence,” according to the warrant.
The two were arrested for second-degree child cruelty and are currently being held in the Douglas County Jail, according to jail records.
Neither Pombert nor Turner has a defense attorney listed as of Friday, according to court records.
One of the couple’s neighbors, Matthew Govoni, told Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB that the shed burned down during Memorial Day weekend, but officials have not disclosed how they became aware of the child living there.
The Douglas County Fire Department did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Govoni told WSB that Pombert and Turner have lived in their home for more than a decade and was “not surprised” to hear about the child’s living conditions due to “the lifestyle they live.”
“I’m saddened for them and the child, but I mean, for the child, I hope they can get to a place where they can be helped,” Govoni told WSB.
(ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MN) — Three major wildfires raging out of control in the same Minnesota county have burned more than 20,000 acres combined, destroying dozens of structures, triggering evacuations and prompting the governor to call in the state National Guard to help battle the flames.
The largest fire in St. Louis County — the Camp House Fire — exploded overnight to nearly 12,000 acres and was 0% contained on Tuesday afternoon, officials said.
“The responders are doing everything they can, working long hours under extremely tough conditions,” Cmdr. Ryan Williams of the Minnesota Incident Command System (MNICS) said at a news conference.
The Camp House Fire, which started on Sunday in the Superior National Forest near Brimson, about 35 miles north of county seat Duluth, grew overnight from roughly 1,200 acres to 11,788 acres by Tuesday afternoon, according to Williams.
He said that up to 150 structures, including seasonal cabins, remain under mandatory evacuation orders.
St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay said in a video statement that more than 40 structures, including homes and cabins, have been destroyed by the Camp House Fire.
Fueled by wind gusts, relative low humidity, warm temperatures, dry underbrush and a build-up of dead trees killed by an insect infestation, the Camp House Fire has quickly spread through the area, according to officials.
“When the fire torches through tree canopies, it throws embers into the air like confetti,” Williams said.
Two other wild fires burning in St. Louis County were the Jenkins Creek Fire — which started on Monday afternoon and had spread to 6,800 acres as of Tuesday afternoon — and the Munger Saw Fire, which also started Monday afternoon and had grown to 1,400 acres as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the MNICS. Both fires were also 0% contained, officials said.
No injuries have been reported from any of the fires, officials noted.
As of Tuesday morning, wildfires had scorched over 37,000 acres — far above the state’s typical yearly total of about 12,000 acres.
“We are seeing the effects of climate change,” Sarah Strommen, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, said at Tuesday’s news conference. “It’s harder to compare current fire seasons to what used to be normal. We are trending toward hotter, drier weather — and that’s changing everything.”
On Monday night, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called in state National Guard troops to help firefighters gain control of the three fires.
“Last night, many of our firefighters were out there with no sleep in extremely dangerous conditions,” Walz said in a statement. “We’ve already seen 970 wildfires this year — 40 on Sunday and another 40 on Monday. These are record-setting numbers, and the fires are burning fast.”
The blazes ignited amid red flag fire danger warnings issued by the National Weather Service for nearly the entire state of Minnesota.
Making matters worse for firefighters were high temperatures forecast for most of Minnesota this week. On Monday and Tuesday, temperatures in the Duluth area reached the 80s.
