Mother to Be Arraigned After Baby Dies in Car

A Temecula woman faces arraignment today on charges that she left her baby daughter inside a locked car for four hours as temperatures outside reached the mid-80s, causing the girl’s death--the second such incident in two weeks.

Carolina Ayala, 20, told police that she forgot to take the baby out of the car when she returned home about 7:30 a.m. Saturday, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Ayala said she had been drinking at a party and had gone home and fallen asleep, authorities said.

When she awoke about 11:30 a.m., she found the baby, Krystal Dominguez, unconscious inside the car. Krystal was not breathing, and attempts to resuscitate her failed. She was pronounced dead a short time later at Rancho Springs Medical Center.

Ayala is scheduled to be arraigned in Riverside County Superior Court on charges of felony child endangerment.

On June 14, police arrested the mother of a 5-month-old who died in Claremont after being left in a hot car for more than six hours.

Kimberly Fudge, 29, of La Habra was charged with involuntary manslaughter and felony child abuse.

The temperature was almost 120 degrees inside the car when the baby died, police said.

Police received a call in the afternoon from the hysterical mother saying that her baby was not breathing. Officers and paramedics were sent to a motel and found the baby on the bed. They determined he had been dead for several hours.

Fudge, 29, told authorities that she had an argument with the baby’s father the night before, and he had gone to a motel in Claremont. The next morning, she went to see him, leaving the baby in the car. She then fell asleep in the motel room, police said.

Los Angeles County prosecutors recommended that she be held in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Medical experts continually warn of the dangers of leaving children and pets in cars, especially during warm weather.

Leaving car windows cracked open does nothing to protect children from hyperthermia, a condition in which the body cannot cool itself. The temperature climbs so rapidly in a closed car that a child’s body cannot adjust.

Infants and young children are particularly susceptible because of their poorer internal temperature regulation and their smaller, more fragile physiques.