Overland Park man left 2 kids in hot car for over 2 hours; 1 died: affidavit
A 43-year-old Overland Park man allegedly left two young children in a car for more than two hours on a hot day last summer, resulting in one of their deaths, according to newly released court documents.
Last month, the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office charged Tyler Pence with first-degree murder and endangerment of a child. He is being held in the Johnson County jail on a $250,000 bond.
Pence allegedly left the two children alone in the hot car for two hours and 19 minutes while he was at work, according to a partially redacted affidavit released Monday. The court document contains information from the investigation and probable cause for a defendant’s arrest.
According to the affidavit, Pence called 911 at about 5:22 p.m. on Sept. 3, reporting that his daughter was not breathing. He said he had been driving around with his kids and that “it was really hot.”
Johnson County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the medical call along Kansas 10 near Kill Creek Road near De Soto. There, they found Pence in the driver’s seat of a gold 2019 Buick Encore.
Deputies also found a 3-year-old girl unresponsive in her car seat on the rear passenger side. The girl had a full diaper that was leaking. Her body was pale, covered in sweat and limp, according to court documents.
Also in the back seat was a 2-year-old boy, who was also unresponsive. When deputies shook the child, they were able to get him to respond lethargically. Deputies removed both children from the small crossover SUV.
While medics began working on the girl, deputies placed the boy in the back of a Johnson County Med-Act SUV to cool him down. The boy had thrown up on himself, according to court documents.
Deputies noted the vehicle’s air conditioning was turned on low, with the fan at full power. They also noted that Pence allegedly did not appear to be sweating.
Pence told deputies that he had been driving with the windows up and that the air conditioning in the SUV was not functioning. He rolled down the windows and called 911 when he noticed one of the children was unresponsive.
Pence also told deputies that he had left his home in Overland Park with both children around 4 p.m. and drove to Lawrence to look at apartments, according to court documents. He said he remained in the vehicle, with the windows up. He also said the children had been with him the whole time and that he did not work that morning.
He told deputies that the three of them had been driving around in the car for 20 minutes. It was while they were on the way home that he noticed the child was unresponsive, according to court documents.
Medics told deputies that they were unable to revive the girl and pronounced her time of death at 6:12 p.m. They took the boy to a hospital. When detectives went to check on him later that night, hospital staff told them the boy was stable. He was later moved to a standard pediatric room in October.
The next day, detectives contacted what appeared to be his employer, which was redacted from the affidavit. The person said Pence started joined the company about two months earlier as a second-shift supervisor, normally working from 3 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
Pence showed up to work for his normal shift on Sept. 3. He was wearing a face mask and said he had been sick the past few days, according to court documents.
The person said they told Pence he could go home, but he said he wanted to get his shift started and everyone organized before he would go home. The person estimated that this happened around 3:30 p.m.
The person also provided surveillance video of the parking lot, entrances, exits, and inside the building.
With the help of the company’s surveillance video and other evidence collected throughout the investigation, detectives were able to determine that Pence allegedly left his apartment with the children and stopped at a gas station in De Soto, where he bought drinks and snacks.
Pence then drove to work and entered the building at 2:59 p.m., leaving the children strapped in their car seats in the vehicle. At 5:18 p.m., Pence is captured on surveillance video leaving work, walking directly to his SUV and driving away. About three minutes later, he called 911 to report his daughter was not breathing.
A medical examiner concluded that under the weather conditions that day, the vehicle’s internal temperature could have reached up to 130 degrees. The cause of death was redacted from the affidavit.
Pence’s next court hearing is set for 2 p.m. July 9.
The Star’s Kendrick Calfee and Nathan Pilling provided information for this story.
