A Georgia mom is accused of leaving her 7-month-old baby son to die inside her scorched vehicle while she worked nearby.
Nyla Simmons, 22, was charged on Nov. 3 with Second Degree Cruelty to Children and Second Degree Murder in connection with the death of her infant, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities said the mother left him in her car before starting her shift at the Kia automotive dealership in Albany — about 80 miles outside Columbus — on Oct. 16.
Simmons then rushed her baby five miles to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital after she made the gut-wrenching discovery that she had left the child in the car.
Temperatures reached as high as 90 degrees, according to AccuWeather.
The infant was pronounced dead at the hospital, authorities said.
Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputies were then called to the hospital to investigate the infant’s death.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took Simmons into custody at the Lee County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 3 without incident.
Simmons is currently booked into the Lee County Jail and faces up to 40 years in prison if found guilty.
Lee County Coroner Hill Mackey told WALB that the infant’s body was sent for autopsy on Oct. 17.
The child’s cause of death is still pending, and Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler told the outlet that deaths involving children can take a long time to investigate.
“People get upset because they think after the autopsy, you should have an answer,” Fowler said.
“If there is not any trauma to the child or injuries to the child, then a lot of time, you got to wait on [toxicology] and the histology, all of that, to come in and see what happened.”
Simmons, a mother of two, seemed to be a devoted, nurturing parent who regularly posted photos and updates of her baby boy and his older sister on social media before the tragedy.
In the weeks preceding her son’s death, she posted photos on Facebook of her children enjoying a pumpkin patch the following day.
Before she was arrested, Simmons thanked those who reached out to her with “genuine love and support” following her son’s death.
“Thank you to everyone who reached out with genuine love and support. Even if I didn’t respond, please know that I saw it, felt it, and truly appreciated it. Your kindness has meant more than words can say,” she wrote on Facebook.
Since 1995, there have been 26 children who have died inside hot cars in the state of Georgia, according to statistics provided by the Kids and Cars Safety organization.
More than 1,100 children have died in hot cars in the United States since 1990, with 88% of the deaths nationwide being children 3 years old or younger.
On average, 40 children die each year from heatstroke inside a vehicle across the nation.
