3-year-old girl dies in hot car in California, mom arrested
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(LOS ANGELES) — A mother is facing charges after her 3-year-old daughter died from being left in a hot car as extreme heat grips Southern California, authorities said.
Around 4:20 p.m. Friday, police and fire crews responded to reports of a 3-year-old girl and her mother, Sandra Hernandez, who were both unconscious, Anaheim police said.
A family member had found the mother and daughter locked in a Ford Expedition, and it was unclear how long they’d been inside the parked car, police said.
The 3-year-old was later pronounced dead at the hospital, police said. Her “preliminary cause of death [was] suspected to be complications from heat stroke, though the official autopsy report is still pending,” police said in a statement on Monday.
The temperature reached a scorching 113 degrees in Anaheim on Friday. The temperature was about 104 degrees when the mother and daughter were discovered, police said.
Hernandez, 41, was interviewed at the hospital, and after she was medically cleared, she was arrested on charges of involuntary manslaughter and felony child neglect, police said.
Several empty bottles of alcohol were found inside the car, police said.
The investigation is ongoing, police added.
At least 31 children have died in hot cars in the U.S. so far this year, according to national nonprofit KidsAndCars.org.
At least 1,116 children have died in hot cars since 1990, the organization said.
Click here for what you need to know to prevent hot car deaths.
(LONGBOAT KEY, Fla.) — When Coast Guard pilot Lt. Ian Logan went out to search the waters off Longboat Key in the wake of Hurricane Milton roaring ashore on the western Florida coast, he didn’t expect to find anyone who needed help.
To all of their surprise, he and his crew found a man clinging to a cooler 30 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico.
“We thought it might’ve been a buoy,” Logan said. “I remember looking down and seeing the strobe and like seeing him holding on to the cooler. So once we pulled up in that 50-foot hover right next to the guy, we’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s on like a cooler that’s opened up and he’s just floating on it,’ which is insane.”
The man had gone out to his boat early Wednesday to make repairs after it became disabled earlier that week approximately 20 miles off John’s Pass, a barrier island west of St. Petersburg, according to the Coast Guard. As he was bringing the boat back to port, it got disabled again, the Coast Guard said.
The man contacted the Coast Guard, hoping for help. But weather conditions had already started to deteriorate as Milton approached Florida’s west coast, and the Coast Guard said it instructed him to put on a life jacket and “stay with the vessel’s emergency position indicating radio beacon.” The Coast Guard said it then lost contact with the man at 6:45 p.m. ET Wednesday.
By the time he was found, with his boat long gone, Logan said the man was essentially strapped to the cooler.
“I didn’t believe it at first. There are a lot of questions going through my head. So I paused for like, 10 seconds, as we’re making this turn, going to make our approach to the water,” Logan said. “And I’m like, ‘Are you sure?’ And the swimmer is like, ‘Yes, he’s waving his hands at us like, this is the guy.’ And I remember all of us are like, ‘My goodness, I can’t believe we’re so excited that we found this guy.’ Like searching for a needle in a haystack.”
“I look back over my shoulder and he’s over my back right shoulder and I see this guy — hair looks like the ‘Castaway’ movie, where he’s covered in salt,” he said. “He’s got a life vest on, he’s soaked. And at that point, it really set in, like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe we just found this guy.'”
Logan said the moment was one of the highlights of his career.
ABC News’ Leah Sarnoff and Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
(CODY, Wyo.) — A 60-year-old woman was walking off-trail in Yellowstone National Park when she suffered burns from scalding water in a thermal area by Old Faithful, park officials said.
The woman was walking with her husband and their dog in a thermal area near Mallard Lake Trailhead on Monday afternoon “when she broke through a thin crust” over the extremely hot water, suffering second-degree and third-degree burns to her leg, the National Park Service said.
The woman, who was visiting Yellowstone from New Hampshire, was taken to a park medical clinic and later flown to a hospital for further treatment, officials said.
Her husband and dog were not hurt, park officials said.
“Visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in hydrothermal areas and exercise extreme caution,” Yellowstone National Park said in a statement. “The ground in these areas is fragile and thin, and there is scalding water just below the surface.”
Park spokesperson Linda Veress urges visitors to “follow the beaten path.”
“In thermal areas, boardwalks take you to amazing places, protect the park, and keep you safe,” Veress told ABC News. “People have been severely burned and killed after leaving the boardwalk or reaching into hot water.”
Pets aren’t allowed on boardwalks or hiking trails, or in thermal areas, park officials noted.
The incident is under investigation, park officials said.
(WASHINGTON) — The Navy identified on Monday two “trailblazing” women aviators who were killed when their jet crashed in northeast Washington during an Oct. 15 training mission.
A day after Navy officials declared them dead, they were identified as Lt. Cmdr. Lyndsay P. “Miley” Evans, a Naval flight officer, and Lt. Serena N. “Dug” Wileman, a Naval aviator. Both women were 31 years old and from California, according to the Navy.
Evans and Wileman were described by Navy officials as “two highly skilled, combat decorated aviators.”
“More than just names and ranks, they were role models, trailblazers, and women whose influence touched countless people on the flight deck and well beyond,” the Navy’s Carrier Strike Group Two and Carrier Air Wing 3 said in a statement.
The aviators were identified a day after Cmdr. Timothy Warburton of the Navy’s Electronic Attack Squadron 130 — which goes by the nickname “Zappers” — announced they had been declared dead.
“It is with a heavy heart that we share the loss of two beloved Zappers,” Warburton said in a statement. “Our priority right now is taking care of the families of our fallen aviators and ensuring the well-being of our Sailors and the Growler community. We are grateful for the ongoing teamwork to safely recover the deceased.”
Wreckage of the EA-18G Growler jet was located Wednesday on a mountainside east of Mount Rainier, military officials said.
Search-and-rescue crews faced mountainous terrain, cloudy weather and low visibility during the search for the crew, Navy officials said in a statement last week.
The jet, from Electronic Attack Squadron 130, crashed at about 3:23 p.m. on Oct. 15, about 30 miles west of Yakima, according to the Navy.
The jet crashed after launching a training flight from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, officials said.
Evans and Wileman had recently returned from a nine-month deployment to the Red Sea in the Middle East, where they were part of the Carrier Air Wing 3 and stationed aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to the Navy. During their deployment, the aviators were involved in what the Navy described as “the most dynamic combat action.”
“During their deployment, both Evans and Wileman distinguished themselves in combat operations,” Capt. Marvin Scott, a Navy flight commander, said in a statement.
Scott added, “These role models cemented legacies by making history that will inspire future generations of Naval officers and aviators.”
Evans completed multiple combat strikes into Houthi-controlled territories in Yemen, making her one of the few women to fly combat missions over land, according to the Navy.
In 2023, Evans was part of an all-female Super Bowl flyover of State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, which the Navy said was “a historic moment marking 50 years of women flying in the Navy.”
In 2024, Evans was also named the Growler Tactics Instructor of the Year, according to the Navy.
In 2023 and 2024, Wileman also flew on multiple combat missions into the Houthi-controlled territories of Yemen.
“I have personally flown with both of these great Americans in both training and dynamic combat operations, and they always performed professionally and precisely. I could not be more proud to have served with each of them,” Capt. Marvin Scott, a Navy flight commander, said in a statement.
The cause of the crash that killed Evans and Wileman is under investigation, according to the Navy.
The Growler aircraft, which according to the Navy is worth about $67 million, is “the most advanced technology in airborne Electronic Attack and stands as the Navy’s first line of defense in hostile environments.”
The 130 squadron adopted the nickname “Zappers” when it was commissioned as the Carrier Early Warning Squadron 13 in 1959, the military said.
The squadron was most recently deployed to the Southern Red Sea, where it carried out seven pre-planned strikes against Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, according to a statement.
The Zappers also carried out some 700 combat missions “to degrade the Houthi capability to threaten innocent shipping,” according to a press release announcing the squadron’s return to Washington in July.
