A 22-month-old child tragically lost their life on one of the hottest days of the year in Corpus Christi, Texas, after being left in a car outside a local school.

Infant Left in Sweltering Car

The child’s mother, 33-year-old Hilda Ann Adame, was taken into custody on Tuesday by Corpus Christi police. Adame faces charges of causing serious bodily injury to a child and child endangerment/abandonment with imminent bodily injury, according to a police report.

The incident occurred around 1:30 p.m. outside Tom Browne Middle School, as temperatures in Corpus Christi soared past 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The National Weather Service had issued a heat advisory for the area, warning that the heat index—factoring in humidity—made it feel like 112 degrees. It remains unclear how long the infant had been left in the vehicle before being discovered unresponsive.

Emergency Response and Arrest

Upon arrival, officers found a school nurse performing CPR on the infant in a desperate attempt to revive the child. The baby was immediately transported by ambulance to Driscoll Children’s Hospital, but tragically, the child was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

Adame was detained at the scene and questioned by police before being booked into the City Detention Center. Authorities have not released details of her statements during the interview. The tragic event has shocked the community, prompting an outpouring of grief and a renewed focus on the dangers of leaving children in vehicles during extreme heat.

Leanne Libby, a spokesperson for the Corpus Christi Independent School District, expressed the district’s gratitude to those who responded swiftly to the crisis, including school staff, district police, and local law enforcement. The district also provided counseling services on campus following the incident, with a crisis counseling team available the next day to support students and staff.

A National Issue of Growing Concern

This tragic death in Texas is not an isolated incident. According to Kids and Car Safety, a nonprofit child advocacy organization, at least 24 children have died across the United States this year after being left in vehicles during hot weather. The ages of the victims range from a 10-month-old in Louisiana to an 8-year-old in North Carolina. Just two days before this incident, another mother in Louisiana, 32-year-old Hannah Faith Cormier, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder after her 10-month-old child died in a hot car.

Jenette Fennell, president of Kids and Car Safety, emphasized the importance of never leaving children in vehicles, regardless of the weather. “In the first 10 minutes, the temperature in the vehicle can rise as much as 20 degrees,” Fennell told ABC affiliate KIII in Corpus Christi. She urged parents and caregivers to develop habits that prevent such tragedies, such as always checking the backseat before locking the car. “The biggest problem we have is nobody thinks it’s going to happen to them until it happens to them,” Fennell said.