A North Carolina mother is facing murder charges after police say she locked her 8-year-old daughter inside her car during last week’s heat wave, resulting in the girl’s death.
Ashlee Stallings, 36, is being held at the Mecklenburg Detention Center on $250,000 bail on charges of involuntary manslaughter and child neglect. policeStallings left her daughter locked inside the car in the scorching heat while she was working at her job at Amazon on Wednesday.
Police records reviewed by WCNC-TV News The report reveals that Stallings admitted to leaving her daughter in the car when the outside temperature was 94 degrees. She allegedly told police that she left the car running with the air conditioning on, but suspected that her daughter had turned it off because she was cold.
Stallings returned to the car about 90 minutes after receiving her daughter’s last text message and found her motionless on the floor of the vehicle. He smashed the window with a hammer to get to her. The girl, whose name has not been released, was breathing heavily and foaming at the mouth.
Police responded to the scene shortly before 6:30 p.m. and found the girl unresponsive. She was rushed to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead and Stallings was subsequently arrested.
“This is an incredibly tragic incident,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement to National Center for Disease Control“During this difficult time, we are supporting our employees and have made counseling resources available to all concerned. We are also working closely with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department as they investigate.”
Wednesday was reportedly the hottest day of the year, with temperatures reaching 99 degrees. Stallings is due back in court on July 16.