A Porterville family is mourning the death of a one-year-old boy, who police say was left in a hot car for hours while his mother went to a cosmetic appointment.
Bakersfield Police say 20-year-old Maya Hernandez left her two young sons, one-year-old Amillio Gutierrez and his two-year-old brother, strapped in their car seats outside a medical spa on June 29.
The toddler survived, but Amillio died after being hospitalized with a 107-degree body temperature.
Katie Martinez, the boys’ grandmother, is devastated by their loss and the circumstances surrounding it.
“They were strapped into their car seats. “They couldn’t even get up to save themselves,” Martinez explained. “She literally locked them in their car seats and shut their doors.”
Martinez stated that she has repeatedly sat in her own car with the windows up and the engine turned off to try to understand what her grandsons went through.
“If you just take 20 minutes out of your day and go in your car and feel how it feels, I think that’s the only thing that will teach you how to know what a kid feels,” she told me.
According to arrest documents, Hernandez told police she left the car running with the air conditioning turned on.
However, when investigators arrived, the vehicle was warm, and they later discovered it had an automatic shut-off feature that turned the engine off after an hour.
Authorities estimate that the children were left without air conditioning for at least 90 minutes.
A nurse at the spa told police that Hernandez had asked ahead of time if she could bring her children to the procedure, but did not mention having them with her when she arrived. The appointment reportedly lasted 15 to 20 minutes.
Martinez stated that Hernandez’s behavior was out of character. She was a very loving mother. Those boys adored her. They loved her and relied on her.
Hernandez faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and child cruelty. She is being held on a bail of more than $1 million and is scheduled to appear in court on Friday for a preliminary hearing.
The boys’ father, Martinez’s son, who is currently in prison on unrelated charges, learned of the tragedy from a jail chaplain the day after his death.
On Saturday, a vigil was held at a local park in memory of Amillio.
