The grandparents of a newborn who died after being abandoned inside a moving truck in Illinois begged their daughter to leave the child with them just hours before the baby was found dead.
Proud grandmother Tonya Luncsford beamed with joy as she held baby Grayson up to the camera in a photo posted to her Facebook account on Sept. 9.
A week later, on Sept. 16, the newborn died of “hyperthermia, severe dehydration and gross neglect,” authorities said, after being abandoned for at least four hours in a rented U-Haul truck by his mother, Andrea Luncsford.
The mother, a 26-year-old OnlyFans model from Peoria, had been driving the vehicle for days after Grayson’s father’s funeral on Sept. 14. 25 News reported.
Grayson’s grandfather feared the boy could be next.
“You know that baby can overheat and die, please let us help you, from dad to mom,” she wrote to her daughter. According to Fox 2 News.
Proud grandmother Tonya Luncsford beamed with joy as she held baby Grayson up to the camera in a photo posted to her Facebook account on Sept. 9.
Grayson’s mother, Andrea Luncsford, 26, has been charged with the newborn’s murder.
Grandfather Andrew Luncsford tracked his daughter to a home in Peoria’s East Bluff, where he found his grandson unconscious and not breathing in the truck on the night of Sept. 9.
She called emergency services, who found Grayson lying on the grass in a backyard and attempted to revive him before pronouncing him dead at the scene.
When police arrived, they found Grayson’s mother behaving “erratically” and she later tested positive for cocaine.
Andrew told police his daughter had ignored his messages that day before telling him the baby had stopped breathing.
When the grandparents arrived, she said she tried to leave before they could get the baby out of the truck.
The mother, who has a criminal record dating back to 2019, had previously been arrested on suspicion of endangering Grayson. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services spoke with her on Sept. 6.
The agency had launched an investigation into the “substantial risk of physical or environmental injury,” spokeswoman Deborah Lopez said.
The mother seemed delighted after giving birth to her 6-pound, 11-ounce son on August 4, and posted photos of the newborn on her Facebook page.
Grayson’s father, Michael Eastwood Jr., 26, also filled his profile with photos of his “little man” when Grayson turned one month old on Sept. 4.
The OnlyFans model from Peoria, Illinois, has a criminal record dating back to 2019 and had previously been arrested on suspicion of endangering Grayson.
Grandfather Andrew Luncsford, pictured with another child, had begged his daughter to leave Grayson with him and Tonya.
Luncsford seemed delighted with Grayson as she posted photos of her newborn on Facebook.
Two days later, Eastwood died of unexplained causes at Mount Sinai Hospital near his home in Chicago, and his son’s life began to fall apart.
“I can’t believe you’re gone Michael,” Andrea posted on Sept. 7. “My heart hurts so much. We miss you so much. I can’t keep calm. We need you. God. We need you.”
Police say Grayson was wearing the same clothes he wore to his father’s funeral when they arrested his mother on suspicion of murder three days later.
An autopsy found he may have been dead for up to 24 hours before he was removed from the van, which had no ventilation or air conditioning.
Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood said Grayson also appeared to be severely malnourished at the time of his death.
“The autopsy performed on little Grayson shows that he suffered from gross neglect due to severe hyperthermia and profound dehydration,” he said at a news conference on Tuesday.
‘We’ve talked about safe sleep and safe sleep asphyxiations that can be prevented. This is also a preventable death.
‘When you have a baby or a child in a car for any length of time in this heat, the result is going to be like today, which is the death of a one-month-old baby because he was in a car with no air conditioning, no ventilation, no nutrition, no hydration.
‘Even an adult would suffer hyperthermia and dehydration.
“Unfortunately, this will happen much faster in the case of a baby, due to their body surface area, their body composition and how fragile they are in their infancy anyway.”
Thirty-three children have died after being abandoned in vehicles so far this year, according to a tally by NoHeatStroke.org, up from 29 last year.
Luncsford appeared desperate in her latest Facebook update posted a day after her partner’s funeral and two days before her son’s death.
Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood said baby Grayson also appeared to be severely malnourished at the time of his death.
Andrea cried as she appeared in court Wednesday and was told she faces up to 100 years without parole if convicted of her son’s murder.
A decision on bail is expected to be made on Thursday ahead of an arraignment hearing next month.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has launched a second investigation into Grayson’s death.
“These are active investigations and we cannot comment further,” a spokeswoman said.
“We are working with local police on both investigations.”
