11-month-old baby and dog die after being left in hot car for 6 hours by caretaker

YORK COUNTY, VIRGINIA: A woman has been pressed with felony child neglect and misdemeanor animal cruelty charges after her alleged irresponsibility killed an infant as well as a dog.

As per reports, Kristen Danielle Graham allegedly killed 11-month-old Myrical Wicker and the pet dog by leaving them inside a car for nearly six hours as temperatures hit "the upper 80s" on September 12.

The 40-year-old was arrested in the latter part of the day on September 12 and is currently being held at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail.

How did the tragic incident happen?

York County Sheriff Ron Montgomery said in a media conference that they were informed about the incident by a hospital in Newport News, Virginia.

Montogomery stated, “That child has been identified as Myrical Wicker, date of birth October 19th, 2022.”

After an initial probe, Graham was arrested and it was found out that she was the caretaker and the baby was in her care when she lost her life.

The Sheriff shared, as reported by Newsweek, “She took care of the child on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes she would have the child for as much as a week at a time.”

Explaining how the tragedy unfolded, Montogomery said that the suspect went to deliver cigarettes to her friend in the early hours of September 12.

“So the 11-month-old child was put in the back of the vehicle along with a small dog and transported to Newport News where they went to a 7-Eleven, purchased cigarettes and a bottle of apple juice,” he revealed.

After giving the things to her friend, Graham came back at around eight in the morning and “rolled the windows up on the car, turned the car off, left the dog and the child in the vehicle,” the cop said.

Later, after being waken up by a phone call, the woman reportedly went to “check on the child who was at that point deceased,” Montogomery mentioned.

York County Sheriff Ron Montgomery called the case ‘devastating’

The Sheriff said, “Anytime you investigate the death of a child it's devastating to the investigators and the law enforcement people who have to be involved with that.”

“We have children ourselves and I can tell you that we all go home and hug our kids and grandkids a little tighter after something like this happens,” he added.

Also to Newsweek Montogomery expressed, “Clearly, this was an awful scenario. We've read stories like this across the country where children are left in cars on hot days.

“People have to be aware of when they're traveling with small children, whether they get distracted or whatever the issue is, and we don't know what it is in this case, but you can't leave children and in this case, a small dog as well, in the car.”