A Texas woman is facing felony murder charges after allegedly leaving her 9-year-old daughter in a hot car while she worked, resulting in the child’s death. Gbemisola Akayinode, 36, was arrested and detained at the Harris County Jail, according to an announcement made by Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez last Friday. The charges come more than three months after the incident occurred.
On the morning of July 1, Akayinode reportedly drove her daughter, Oluwasikemi Akayinode, to her job at a mineral plant in Galena Park. She left the child in the car with the back windows partially down and some water before starting her shift at 6 a.m. As the day progressed, the temperature inside the car increased due to the summer heat in the small South Texas town.
After completing her eight-hour shift around 2 p.m., Akayinode found her daughter unresponsive in the car, as reported by a local CBS affiliate in Houston. The child was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was declared dead due to hyperthermia.
The local weather on the day of the incident reached a high of 97 degrees Fahrenheit, as per AccuWeather. The exact location where the car was parked remains unclear, but satellite images of the area suggest there were few places that could have provided significant shade. Sheriff Gonzalez also noted that a window shade had been placed in the car’s front window, making it difficult for passersby to see inside.
Jan Null, a university professor and expert on hot car deaths, commented on the rarity of such incidents, citing the child’s age as a factor. He explained that these cases typically involve parents consciously deciding to leave their children in the car while they attend to other matters, not intending to cause harm.
Under Texas law, the felony murder statute stipulates that a person is guilty of murder if their actions unintentionally cause a death during the commission or attempted commission of a felony.