The temperature needed for a child to die in a car was of interest to both parents of a toddler that did later die in a hot car, and a judge must now determine if the baby died in an accident or in an act of murder, as reported by CNN.
It took seven hours in the hot sun before C.H., 22 months, was found dead due to hyperthermia "and the investigative information suggests the manner of death is homicide" according to a statement issued by the Cobb County Department of Public Safety.
J.H., the boy's father, has been charged with murder and second-degree child cruelty. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in jail without bail. J.H. left C.H. strapped in a car seat while he went to work – and the heat that day reached up to 92 degrees.
Both J.H. and his wife L.H. admitted to police that they had looked up on the Internet how hot a car had to be before it killed a child. According to police, "During an interview with (J.H.), he stated that he recently researched, through the Internet, child deaths inside vehicles and what temperature it needs to be for that to occur. (J.H.) stated that he was fearful that this could happen."
L.H. also "made similar statements regarding researching in car deaths and how it occurs."
At C.H.'s funeral L.H. told the guests, "Am I angry with (J.H.)? Absolutely not. It has never crossed my mind. (J.H.) is and was and will be, if we have more children, a wonderful father. (J.H.) is a wonderful daddy and leader for our household. (C.H.) meant the world to him."
A friend of the family, C.B., commented, "I mean he could have gone to the car and not seen the little boy, if the boy was sleeping, or you know ... it could happen. He could have been distracted. But I do have questions about it."
According to the police the day C.H. died, June 18, began with J.H. picking up some fast-food and then putting C.H. in a rear-facing child's seat in the back seat of his SUV. Then J.H. drove to work – failing to make a stop as he normally did to drop the child off at the on-site day care center.
J.H. returned to his car during lunch and put something into the driver's side of the vehicle. Then, at the end of his workday, at approximately 4:16 p.m., he returned to his car and drove off.
A few miles down the road J.H. pulled into a shopping center and telephoned for help. When police arrived, and J.H. realized that his son had died, he became overcome with grief and had to be restrained by police. While he tried to resuscitate his child he cried out, "What have I done?"
