FL - Fendra Molme, 11 months, dies in hot car while parents attend church, Palm Bay, May 2023 *arrest*

[IceIce9]

PALM BAY, Fla. (WESH) - Police in Florida are investigating the death of an 11-month-old baby who was left in a hot car for hours while her parents attended church.

Police got a call around 1 p.m. last Sunday about an unresponsive 11-month-old girl at the Mount of Olives Evangelical Baptist Church in Palm Bay.

When officers arrived, the baby was unresponsive in a vehicle. She was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to a police statement.

Police say the baby had accidentally been left in the car for around three hours while her parents attended church.

Baby dies in hot car while parents attend church, police say

The investigation into the incident is ongoing. Police did not say whether they expect to file charges.

www.ky3.com

 

[ifindedout]

How TH do you forget a child when going to worship? Do the parents have other children?

 

[musicaljoke]

How TH do you forget a child when going to worship? Do the parents have other children?

I imagine that each parent thought the other had picked up the baby.

"I'll drop you off at this door, Sweetheart, so we can unload your things here, then I'll go park the car."

One day every baby car seat will have an alarm so these tragic deaths stop happening.

 

[tlcya]

Family members can help stay safe by putting something in the child’s car seat and moving it to the front when they are in the seat, putting something important in the seat with the child and/or setting it up so daycare will call if the child is not dropped off.
Baby dies in hot car while parents attend church, police say

maybe folks should start putting their phones in the carseat with baby. Pretty sure the number of these types of deaths would plummet. Sad commentary on today's priorities.

 

[ohemgee.kay925]

Family members can help stay safe by putting something in the child’s car seat and moving it to the front when they are in the seat, putting something important in the seat with the child and/or setting it up so daycare will call if the child is not dropped off.
Baby dies in hot car while parents attend church, police say

maybe folks should start putting their phones in the carseat with baby. Pretty sure the number of these types of deaths would plummet. Sad commentary on today's priorities.

Something "important?!" <modsnip>

 

[Penny68]

Neither of the parents even thought during those 3 hours about their baby not with them.

The baby must have suffered horrendously due to their neglect.

 

[Dpdan]

No one in church asked after the baby? Parents didn't think it was kinda quiet during the sermon that day? I don't understand how this could happen.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Police in Palm Bay, Florida, are still investigating the death of an 11-month-old girl who died after she was left alone in a hot car for three hours as her parents attended a worship service at the Mount of Olives Evangelical Baptist Church, a small Southern Baptist congregation that is a member of the Florida Baptist Convention.

"When they arrived, they learned the infant had been left in a car for approximately three hours while the parents went to the church service," Palm Bay Police Department said.

Florida is ranked No. 2 in the nation for child hot car deaths. In 2023 alone, there have been at least three hot car deaths in the Sunshine State, according to KidsandCars.org.

11-month-old dies after parents left her in hot car to attend church: police

Police in Palm Bay, Florida, are still investigating the death of an 11-month-old girl who died after she was left alone in a hot car for three hours as her parents attended a worship service at the ...

www.christianpost.com

 

[IceIce9]

I imagine that each parent thought the other had picked up the baby.

"I'll drop you off at this door, Sweetheart, so we can unload your things here, then I'll go park the car."

One day every baby car seat will have an alarm so these tragic deaths stop happening.

I’ve said for years that parents should be required to attach their cell phones to a baby car seat every time they get in the car.

If they forget their phone they will go back for it and notice the baby.

 

[IceIce9]

Something "important?!" <modsnip>

What could possibly be more important than their precious baby?

Answering my own question: their phone, cigarettes, or donuts.

In one of the first hot car baby deaths that I followed the mom went back to the car because she forgot to take donuts inside, and still didn’t remember the baby.

 

[Curiousobserver]

Every car I have had for the last decade has had a safety system that plays a loud chime if I shut it off and something heavy is in the back seat.

It will be mandatory in all cars by 2025 but its already in most new cars now.

BOTH of them forgot the baby and sat in church for 3 hours??? this one stretches credibility a little

 

[IceIce9]

Every car I have had for the last decade has had a safety system that plays a loud chime if I shut it off and something heavy is in the back seat.

It will be mandatory in all cars by 2025 but its already in most new cars now.

BOTH of them forgot the baby and sat in church for 3 hours??? this one stretches credibility a little

My SUV has an interior sensor that sounds the horn and flashes the lights if any movement is detected inside the car when the doors are locked.

I left my dog inside with the air on and doors locked while I ran in a restaurant to grab an order off the shelf and came out to flashing lights and blaring horn. I had parked directly in front of the restaurant in a pick up spot so everyone inside the restaurant was aware too.

 

[musicaljoke]

BOTH of them forgot the baby and sat in church for 3 hours??? this one stretches credibility a little

If one parent is normally left off at the door where they unload their guitars or food, or Sunday School stuff, and that person takes baby to the nursery, the other will park the car and then they may meet in the sanctuary for worship. If they arrive early for rehearsal or because they are part of the activities in the church, then they might not even get to sit together during the service. One could be on a worship team and the other in Jr. Church. They might not even see each other until it's time to head home. I totally get how something like this can happen.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The child — whose birthday was this week — was discovered unresponsive in the car about 1 p.m. Sunday as the parents were inside the Mount of Olives Evangelical Church, 6165 Babcock St., a small storefront congregation, police reported. Services at the church begin about 10:15 a.m., according to the church website.

Police were working to determine which of the parents brought the child to the congregation and whether there were other distractions involved.

Infant dies after being left in car for hours at Palm Bay church, police say

Palm Bay police are investigating the death of an 11-month-old child left in a car during a church service where the parents are co-pastors.

www.floridatoday.com

 

[Ozoner]

Every car I have had for the last decade has had a safety system that plays a loud chime if I shut it off and something heavy is in the back seat.

It will be mandatory in all cars by 2025 but its already in most new cars now.

BOTH of them forgot the baby and sat in church for 3 hours??? this one stretches credibility a little

I would only be suspicious if it was a special-needs child that they wanted to be rid of. In all liklihood it was simply an accident.

I wonder what their routine was; maybe they usually left the baby with a sitter and broke their routine that day, in which case it wouldn't be surprising for them to forget the baby.

 

[Allabouttrial]

BOTH of them forgot the baby and sat in church for 3 hours??? this one stretches credibility a little

Right??! I'm struggling with this one.

 

[Dpdan]

It's a tiny church, like a classroom, next door/ joined to a convenience store.

 

[Allabouttrial]

I would only be suspicious if it was a special-needs child that they wanted to be rid of. In all liklihood it was simply an accident.

I wonder what their routine was; maybe they usually left the baby with a sitter and broke their routine that day, in which case it wouldn't be surprising for them to forget the baby.

What??!! the child has to be only "special needs" for a parent to not want it? Plenty of abuse cases where the children are "normal". Unbelievable.

 

[wary]

Right??! I'm struggling with this one.

I could understand it more if the baby was usually dropped off at the church nursery, but does a ‘small storefront congregation’ have a nursery? Sincere question.

 

[Allabouttrial]

Love to know the stats. on 2 people leaving a baby in the car. You tend to only hear of 1 caretaker not 2 doing it.