NEWS

Infant dies in a hot car in Grenada; father charged

Sarah Fowler

Clarion Ledger

The thermometer placed on the dashboard of this vehicle shows how hot a car's interior can get.

A father has been charged with murder after his 8-month-old died Thursday after being left in a hot car in Grenada. The infant's death is the second hot-car death in the state in the last two weeks.

According to Grenada Deputy Police Chief George Douglas, after "an extensive investigation," Joshua Lewis Blunt, 25, has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of his daughter, Shania Rihanna Caradine.

Blunt left the infant in his car for "some period of time" while he worked inside a restaurant on Scenic Loop 333, Douglas said.

Douglas would notcomment further.

Blunt is currently in the Grenada County jail on a $250,000 bond.

Grenada County Deputy Coroner Jo Morman identified the restaurant as 333 Restaurant.

Morman said a passerby noticed the child in the car and called 911 at 3:50 p.m. It was unclear how long the infant had been in the car, but she was "hyperthermic."

Once discovered, the infant was taken inside the restaurant and "rushed outside" when paramedics arrived. The child was taken via ambulance to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.

CPR was administered for "a couple hours" before her death was pronounced, Morman said.

The child's body was sent for an autopsy to determine the official cause of death.

Last week, 2-year-old Caroline Bryant died after being left in the car by her mother. According to Madison County Sheriff Randy Tucker, the mother thought she had taken her child to daycare before she went to work, but when she went to pick her up, daycare workers told her she hadn't dropped the child off. Caroline had been in the back seat of the vehicle.

Contact Sarah Fowler at sfowler@gannett.com or 601-961-7303. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.