7-month-old dies when foster mom leaves her in car, North Carolina cops say
A foster mother is accused of leaving a 7-month-old in a hot car, leading to the girl’s death, North Carolina authorities said.
Djuna Bostick, 59, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and negligent child abuse by a willful act or omission causing serious bodily injury, according to the Hamlet Police Department.
McClatchy News reached out to Bostick’s attorney for comment June 12 but did not immediately receive a response.
Officers said they responded to a medical emergency at a home shortly after 6 p.m. June 9 and found a 7-month-old unresponsive.
Investigators learned that Bostick, the girl’s foster mother, had left the baby in a minivan “for an unknown period of time” as temperatures that day reached 90 degrees, according to an arrest warrant filed in Richmond County.
The girl was pronounced dead at a hospital from excessive heat, police said.
“She loved this baby,” Lashon McDonald, who knows Bostick, told WSOC. “I just don’t her see as being one of those who just left her and not realized she was there. It’s just hard to believe.”
Police told McClatchy News that officers are investigating the circumstances leading up to the child being left in the minivan.
Hamlet is about an 80-mile drive southeast from Charlotte.
Hot car deaths
More than 1,000 children have died in hot cars since 1998, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“About 40 children a year die from heatstroke, either because they were left or became trapped in a car,” officials said. “That’s about one child every 10 days killed in a hot car.”
Hot car deaths are most common in the summer, but they can happen at any time, according to the administration. The first “vehicular heatstroke” of the year typically happens in March.
“Leaving a window open is not enough — temperatures inside the car can rise almost 20 degrees Fahrenheit within the first 10 minutes, even with a window cracked open,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
If you see a child alone in a vehicle, officials said you should make sure the child is responsive and if not, immediately call 911.
This story was originally published June 12, 2025 at 12:16 PM with the headline "7-month-old dies when foster mom leaves her in car, North Carolina cops say."