Father facing charges after baby found dead in hot car, Louisiana cops say

A Louisiana father was arrested on a charge of negligent homicide this week after his young daughter was found unresponsive in his car and later pronounced dead in late August.

Kenneth Willis, 38, dropped one of his children off with a caregiver on the morning of Aug. 20 before taking his daughter, Journee, to a doctor’s appointment, WBRZ reported.

Instead of dropping Journee off with that same caregiver after her appointment, Willis forgot she was in the car for several hours, according to police and The Advocate. He discovered his daughter was still in the car when he went to pick his children up and realized only one of them was with the caregiver, police and media reports say.

Willis was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on charges of negligent homicide Wednesday, according to a news release from the Baton Rouge Police Department. He was later released on a $30,000 bond, The Advocate reported.

According to KidsandCars.org, a child safety organization that tracks hot car deaths, at least 1,000 children have died from vehicular heatstroke since 1990. This year, 19 children have died in hot cars, most of whom were left in the car by a parent or caregiver.

This story was originally published September 9, 2021 at 7:01 PM with the headline "Father facing charges after baby found dead in hot car, Louisiana cops say."