Eight people legally strapped in that thing? That's a load of carseats.

Oh, yeah. I'm sure that all were safely buckled up.

a van can seat (pending model and so on) more than 8 people.

setting your purse, or other rememerablely needed item next to your child as a reminder has been around forever. this is in part (this woman's) reason when there are several distractions taking place while you have your child with you. those of you who think its impossible to forget think again. fatigue, stress, and surroundings play a big factor in memory.

we need to keep in mind despite race or other, these things all come into play unless you are a stay at home mom/dad, with no other responsibility other than to spoil your kid rotton, while some one else pays the way to make it possible, be it spouse, GF/BF, or the taxpayer. So, drop the holier than thou attitude. she was arrested because of the crime, not the nature. like most like her, she will be let off. 1st being she is a woman, 2nd i need not say.

be it a working man, you might as well wait for the execution date to be set.

"a van can seat (pending model and so on) more than 8 people."

See the picture. Find the vehicle that's not a pickup or police car and fit eight people in it legally.

I don't see how you could forget a 15 month old child that requires near constant supervison. How would she not notice she wasn't constantly running after him?

• Oh man.... Poor child. This breaks my heart. It says the child "died" in a hot car but, just imagine the pain he felt. Slowly dying from heat. This has got to be one of the worst "torturous" ways to die.
• The mother has got to be horrified. She'll probably never sleep well again. I can't stand reading about this type of situation over and over again. WTF MAN!
• Rest In Peace little Benny. We'll all be together again one day.

I don't understand how it happens.

It happens because people have learned they can get away with murdering their child this way. If a few parents were executed for first degree murder, you'd be amazed how everyone's memory would improve.

You can't fix stupid.

Everybody should be required to pass a test before becoming a parent. Some people are just too stupid to raise children.

7 small kids and one adult? Well, considering that I can see how she might get distracted and forget.... it's amazing how easily people can forget often the most important things. She should have had help. It's ok watching 7 kids when you're in one spot and can give them 100% of your attention; but when moving around and running errands - that's a recipe for disaster.

maybe she needs to go to school and learn how to count.

Patter - I want to congratulate you on perhaps the stupidest post I have ever read on this site. Perhaps if we executed everyone with an IQ below room temperature (such as yourself) the rest of the idiot class would step up their intellect. Not holding out much hope for that though.

completely agree!!! those where my first thoughts as well, since when do you need a reminder to remember your own child in the car? You wouldn't forget your purse but your kid is disposable? For those of you who say give her a break, hopefully there won't be many, why should she be given a break when her purse got more respect than her kid? You don't just forget you have a kid!!! Too many parents leave the care of the younger ones in the hands of their other kids and then if something like this happens it is the kids who have to live with what happens... where did the natural affection and love from parents to their kids go? Over and over again they are making these incredibly stupid decisions in regards to their children!!! Did she get out and not even look at the other kids in the back to make sure they were all accounted for?

This just proves what I've been saying for years. You need a license to have a dog, but any idiot can be a parent.

NaughtyMossey, sad as it is, what you say is true. If a man had done this, they would be setting the execution date already. But a woman? Nahh..Not in this day of sympathy for the culprit, especially if they are of an opressed class.

As a woman myself I find her actions inexcusable. There is nothing to defend. There is no one to blame but her.

I sue she rushed the groceries to the icebox..But not the helpless child.

patter, no people haven't learned they can get away with murder this way. No parent intentionally murders a child this way, even the ones who go into a bar to party think everything will be okay because they are stupid and please don't mention Casey Anthony, I've had it with fools who bring her up because she "got away with it." No one would ever want to be where she is because even though she wasn't sentenced to prison or death her life will be hell from all of the nuts in this country who waste time hating her.

I agree with the orignal poster too. Anyone who thinks of their purse or cell phone and before their child needs to have that child removed from their custody. My children are removed from the car before anything else because I love them.

Oh please, she didn't forget her child. She just didn't care. She is in the home for three hours and she never realized her child was missing? I don't buy that.

Remember, her husband comes home and immediately notices the child missing.

I'm sick and tired of hearing children dying a horrible death and the parent getting away with it. She needs to get life in prison.

@FWalsh

No one intentionally murders a child this way? Are you kidding me? It's near perfect for them. They get...oh 5 years..serve 2 1/2.

Besides if the woman in New Jersey could cut off her 2 year olds head and stick it in a freezer...do you seriously believe no one would leave their kid in a hot car to suffocate?

What world are you living in and what newspapers have you been reading????

• Tom,
• You're one helluva sick dude. You're F'd up man. I don't know why but, I actually feel sorry for you since your comment shows that you have no understanding of life in general. Actually, I'll bet my paycheck that you're on probation. Nobody in their right mind would post something like that. No regard for life at all.
• Good luck with your life, 'cause you're obviously gonna need it. Pffft!

Maybe taking on the task of sittting 7 children and taking trip the the store with them all, might be a bad idea. I'm sure it wasn't intentional and with all that going on, possibly could have slipped her mind with the million other things she was thinking about. BUT, I refuse to accept a single excuse for this to happen.

Rest in peace little one.

Tom, you need help....now!

...these things all come into play unless you are a stay at home mom/dad, with no other responsibility other than to spoil your kid rotton, while some one else pays the way to make it possible, be it spouse...

NaughtyMossy, it's worth getting kicked off for a day to call you an a$$hole. Let me guess: women who stay home and raise their children are bad, and women who have children and work outside the home are bad, too, right? The children are either spoiled or neglected, right?

You sound bitter and jealous. And you don't know how to spell rotten, which describes your post perfectly.

I just don't understand how anyone can forget a child in car or just anywhere... If you are caring for more than one child at one time; 7 at that it is always a good idea to do head counts every so often... But leaving a 15 month old baby in a car for more than 3 hrs is just down right dumb... What the heck was this mother doing for 3 hours that she did not realize that her baby was missing.. You would think the baby was due for a diaper change or a snack.. Come one I just don't get it... May this poor innocent baby Rest in Peace... My prayers go out to the Father and the family...

People forget and their brains aren't perfect, that's why car manufacturers have their products make beeping noises when you don't remove keys or leave on lights. Just perhaps it would be a good idea to have them also beep when the car seat is still weighted down, or a seat belt still buckled. Perhaps they are working on it but haven't yet come up with a workable scheme. Remember the old adage "out of sight, out of mind," yelling "don't forget the kids" won't make you not forget the kids, especially if you got six others vying for attention. That is the nature of the word "forget." So instead of showing a bit of sympathy a great many want to pile on. If you want to do something useful try to figure out a way prevent this sort of thing from happening. It may probe to be harder than it looks.

@cheetah-822547

That suburban can easily fit 8 children all buckled in with boosters and child seats if needed.

You shouldn't have more kids than what you can handle and financially afford.

FWalsh,

......and please don't mention Casey Anthony, I've had it with fools who bring her up because she "got away with it."

Funny, it was YOU who brought her up

Ah, Berenerd, ya beat me to it. Evidently the Cheetah has never seen the inside of an SUV (which, if you will look carefully Cheetah, is in fact neither the cop car nor the truck. It's the big dark vehicle to the right of the truck) and doesn't realize how much actual room there is and that it CAN seat 8 quite comfortably. And Romilio, read the article please, the children weren't all hers. She likely had a daycare.

I was wondering the same thing. It's one thing to forget your child when you think they're supposed to be at day care .... but leaving your kid in the car when you get home from running errands? That sounds like a typical everyday thing! If there's not more to the story, this woman should have criminal charges brought against her. As someone else pointed out - when the father got home, he immediately noticed the child was missing!

I always kept a teddy bear in the carseat. When any of the kids went into the carseat, the teddy was moved to the front passanger seat. It was just a habitual reminder. I always had a deep fear of forgetting one of the kids lol. Who leaves their kids in cars? Tired, stressed, busy, distracted adults. Mot every parent who ever left their kids in a car by accident used to be the type of person who sanctimoniously "just can't understand how someone could do that".

It's not becasue they don't love them, or care about them. It's accidental. And horrible. And too damn easy to judge.

Morndew, my idea of a horrible accident is when something unpredictable happens: plane parts fall out of the sky and land on a child, as an example.

This is 100% preventable. For that reason, I do find it easy to judge. Anyone who has children has been tired, stressed, busy and distracted. Caring about your children isn't enough. You must take care of them.

If every parent were as cautious as you were, this would never happen.

Six other kids didn't catch that one of them was missing either.

A neighbor said she saw the kids playing in the yard - was this after the trip to the store? At 15 months you can't get in or out of a vehicle that size alone...did the other kids put the boy back in the SUV?

there's a lot of sad possibilities here.... in spite of the denials in this thread... people do often dream up ways to kill their kids... I'm sure an accidental death is an idea for some of these troubled and or criminal people...

regardless of how loaded up with kids she was... a baby is your every waking second of attention... it's hard to imagine forgetting to take care of an infant for 3 hours.....

we'll see what happens....

Must be nice to be Shelly from Portland Oregon and be so perfect. All I can say is, "Never say Never". [edited - found a mistake; glad I caught it before Shelly!]

While I agree that it's difficult to forget a child, how many school bus drivers have done just that with preschool and kindergarten age children? There's never any excuse for forgetting a child but today's parents just don't learn. They multi-task till they have about as much ability to concentrate for longer than 3 seconds than a common locust in heat.

Yesterday, I had the extreme pleasure of trying to comprehend what some 30 something was saying into the phone while he was speaking at what was likely more than the speed of his cell phone screen's texting change. This, while he was filling out paperwork, watching a clock to speed speak and then expecting the listener to actually want to buy what Mr. SpeedMouth was selling.

What on earth are they rushing for? What's the hurry to do 100 things at a time? Any loony who actually believes they accomplish anything worthwhile while multi-tasking in split second timing is ready for the loony bin. This is what this is really all about. Taking 7 kids out on a shopping spree while likely on a cell phone and trying to concentrate on 10 things at the same time. Where do they draw the line before they all become basket cases?

There are a lot of things wrong with this scenario. Firstly it is confusing as to how many kids were hers and how many she was looking after. She was obviously running a home day care and I dont know about the US but here in Canada there are stringent rules that must be followed to prevent things like this from happening. There is a ratio of children per one person looking after them and it is generally 2 or 3 children in a home based daycare - not 6. And secondly when you take your child to a daycare the person running it doesnt usually pack them all in a car and go do their shopping - especially when the number of kids is 6. That should be done when the kids go home or on weekends. So it appears that she wasnt following any guidelines set out for operating a daycare. This happens a lot and I am willing to bet she didnt have a licence for the daycare either. I am fine with the statement that we all forget things at times - but to forget a young child in a hot car for 3 hours is inexcusable and this woman should be charged with neglect. Other parents placed their children in her care and paid her for doing so therefore she is responsible for the well being of those children and must act accordingly. This is no light task to take on just for the money - there is a lot of responsibility that goes along with it. I have definitely forgotten a bag of groceries in the car and not discovered it for awhile - but never a child. And to not notice a child of that age being missing - I just dont believe her reasoning for it. So whatever the punishment due in this case - this woman deserves it. This is disgusting and heartbreaking and a child died under her care. So to say everyone forgets things is totally inexcusable.

What probably happened was the baby was sleeping and she had groceries and six other kids. She opened the doors to the car, told the kids to go inside and play or something and brought her groceries in to put away figuring she'd go back out and bring the baby in in a second. phone rang, she answered it, forgot she never got little Bennie Jr. put of his seat. She heard the kids playing in the other room, thought all was well. Until her husband came home and said "Hey, where's the baby?" OH NO! - run outside and worst fears are realized.

It's a parent's nightmare, quite literally. My husband woke in the middl eo fhte night in a panic when he was the st home parent because he had dreamed he left our then 10 month old in the car. He was tucked safely in bed, but he was wide eyed panicked that he had forgotten him. Parents need to realize that you can NEVER safely leave a child to sleep in the car. Just a month or so ago at a BBQ a couple came into the house with only their youngest in tow. My BIL asked them where the older child was, they left him to finish his nap in the car. Granted it was a nice day, high was maybe 85 so cool for July and they left the windows open.. but my BIL still went outside to stand by the car until the boy woke up.

Actually, my son climbed into and out of the car seat when he was a year old, and buckled it up. And this was before they were even required.

But I digress...never once did I forget my child in the car - or anywhere else for that matter.

If you have to leave your purse next to the car seat in order to remember your child - then you should not have kids.

And I agree that people should have to pass an intelligence test to reproduce. And to have a pet. The world would be a much better place.

I can understand forgetting your child for a very short while under that scenario but if you are watching other peoples children are you saying that you would not check on them at all in 3 hours and notice that your 15 month old child is not there? I can't believe the excuses people will make for parents leaving their children in a car for hours.

Mach-If you look far enough, that airplane falling out of they sky had a reason. Probably a rushed and stressed employee. Or Someone who fabricated a part incorrectly 5 years earlier. Accident does not mean unpredictable.

I don't judge. I can't. Maybe you can and maybe you should. Maybe I should. I don't know. I just know at least once when going down our road, when my youngest was a baby, I suddenly woke up out of my thoughts and had a moment of horrible panic, convinced I had left her on the side of the driveway in her carseat-until I looked in the rearview and-thank God!-there she is, sweet and sleepy right behind me.

If I can have that moment, anyone can. So I don't judge, and I'm extra careful!

@Just me, you crack me up. I never said is was perfect. I said forgetting your 15 month old baby for over 3 hours makes no sense. BAD PARENTING BEHAVIOR, SIMPLE, judging the behavior, not the person.

REALLY, you want to say "she's just not perfect."

Please, go check on your children... where are they????? All parents are busy, that's part of the job.

Every parent makes mistakes, we all do, but losing a 15 month old for over 3 hours? Seriously??? And no I don't have a heart of stone. I am sure the parents are grieving. The parents will grieve forever, yes that's very sad.

But what do you think that child went through right before he died? Think about that. Terrifying. And you are worried about a typo? There's a dead child and you worry about a typo. Seriously. No wonder people forget their children. A typo is more important than a dead child?? Really?

Anyone getting the picture? The child is dead, and more babies will die until people get it. Get it???

@NaughtyMossy

I cannot believe that you said "these things all come into play unless you are a stay at home mom/dad, with no other responsibility other than to spoil your kid rotton, while some one else pays the way to make it possible, be it spouse, GF/BF, or the taxpayer."

No other responsibility? How about taking care of the basic needs of the child, cleaning the home, making dinner, doing the laundry, paying the bills, doing the grocery shopping. Do you think stay at home parents pay someone to do that for them too? A majority of LEGAL stay at home mothers are not on welfare. They are staying at home while their spouse is working. If you have kids, shouldn't the money your spouse is making go towards the children? You decided to have kids. It's your responsibility to take care of them. Last time I checked, it was not against the law to have one parent working and one at home. In fact, up until the last 20-30 years, it was highly acceptable. You are extremely lucky nowadays if you can be a stay at home mother and raise your kids. People in society are blaming problems on kids being raised outside of the home while their parents are away from them. You can't have it both ways.

@ NaughtyMossy - you are one ignorant individual, and not just because you can't spell. Before people started to go out of the home for wage-paying jobs with the industrial revolution, most people just 'worked' at agriculture or something else at home, and taking care of and raising children is most certainly work,just as tilling the fields was 'work' before people got a wage for doing it. So is doing laundry, cleaning, cooking, mending clothes and all of the other tasks that stay at home parents do. That is why you would have to PAY someone else to do it for you, such as the dry cleaner, a seamstress, a daycare provider, a cook or a housecleaner. Also, here is another newsflash for you - your spouse working outside of the home while you stay home is not having them 'pay your way', since all marital assets are jointly owned, including income. Married couples are free to come up with their own agreement as to how to earn income and divide tasks, but at the end of the day, all money earned belongs to both.

Tom, two big middle fingers up for you buddy.

Naughty, raising a mess of kids is tough, and this woman was obviously caring after other kids as well, earning a (small) income to supplement her husbands. I wouldn't be harping on the woman's work ethic.

However, the fact that she allowed herself to get spread so thin that she could actually blank out on the location of her baby is unacceptable.

She's going to pay for it the rest of her life (my personal version of hell right there) and she needs to go to prison for a time to show everyone the seriousness of it.

When a child's life is in your hands is your required duty to make sure you can pay attention and care for it. Being stressed out or busy is not a sufficient excuse.

I doubt it.

They should park that SUV at the police station and hold her in it until the investigation is complete.

And this will bring the child back?

JAKUP22

And this will bring the child back?

No. But then again, no sentence ever brings back the victim. Does that mean we should quit sentencing murderers? (And, yes, I know she is not a murderer).

She is a murderer, intentional or not, negligent homicide is still homicide.

F Walsh

She is a murderer, intentional or not, negligent homicide is still homicide.

Homicide is any human death caused by another human. All murders are homicides, but not all homicides are murders (or even crimes).

This is why you don't have 7 @!$%#ing children. Do the world a favor and adopt if you want more than 2.

Leaving 6 children in an unattended car for hours is NOT a mistake, it was an idiot! What a stupid post from you

She left ONE child in an unattended car. You might want to rethink that "stupid post" thing...

Very sad when this happens. It happens in FL a couple of times a year. Condolences to the family.

robertlevy, you didn't read the story correctly, if at all, and left a rude, unwarranted comment calling two people "stupid" based on that. What's that make you? And Sandan, you're wrong. Many of us have put others at risk, speeding, crossing without the walk light, by being distracted or not thinking. I make no excuses for what happened to the baby in this story, but these things do happen. Glad you're a superhuman.

sandan, when did this article become political ahole.

A child died. This isn't about you, so I don't need to hear your war stories.

W R O N G! Maybe you. But not everybody.

I'm with suave and Nick on this one. Although I make no excuses for the woman, I empathize - everybody makes some stupid mistakes sometimes; and are just lucky that it's not the time that causes something horrible to happen. Just the other day I pulled out in front of someone after misjudging their speed (I thought he was going 40 in a 35, turned out closer to 60)- I was lucky that they saw it coming and avoided me, and he was lucky that his speeding didn't get himself killed. I felt like a total idiot, and could have killed that guy (or myself). People who go through life acting as if they have never made such a mistake are either blind or incredibly unappreciative of their fortune.

This woman though - obviously couldn't handle caring for 7 small children. That's way too much when trying to run errands etc.

have never been a part of putting anyone in harms way, including my family and the 200+ men that were under my command in Vietnam!

FYI, just by being over there, anything you ordered them to do put them in harm's way.

Also, I'm sure you've put others in harm's way, you just may not have realized it and you're too foolish to accept the idea that it may have occurred.

It is not a mistake to leave a child in a hot car(100 outside and maybe 170 inside) it is gross negligence and some little guy paid for it with his life. It should be prosecuited for a minemum of man slaughter. Families are a team, and team head counts are a must...... Dont be bleeding hearts in these things...they need a firm hand and a definite disipline

Thank you for your service in Viet Nam, and for taking good care of the people you were responsible for.

However, to have never been a part of putting anyone in harms way, even accidentally, makes you better than God.

I just want to know how anyone can forget a child in a car!!!!! You know you put the child in the car and the child needs to be taken out as well. I feel that these people are very aware of what they are doing and uses "I forgot" as an excuse to commit murder. Times are hard for everyone, if you can no longer afford to care for the child, take the child to an agency that will do the right thing. This is MURDER all day long!

@Shuklack

Why I thank you for the service and your courage to protect the ones that served with you, the definition of your job as a soldier is putting people at risk. You carry guns, you fired those guns. You fired at the enemey and there is always a chance for friendly fire and accidents. Intended by you? no. Were you careful to not put anyone in an unnecessarily risky position? I am certain of it, but noone can say for certain that 100% of the time they were safe and everyone around them were safe 100% Its impossible for you to control an accident when you don't know its going to happen.

That's just what I was thinking, SomeGuy. If Sandan was in Vietnam and never put his men in harm's way, they must've just been there on holiday. During the war, just going to the latrine or to the mess hall for a cup of joe put you in harm's way. What an idiot! I know the title "Sandan". I earned mine the hard way, you probably just thought it sounded cool. Oh, well, we can be comforted by the fact that, at 80 years old, you're probably suffering from Alzheimer's and don't realize what you're saying.

I was not making excuses for the lady, however having many times taken on things and lost parts in the shuffle I have made mistakes and this one will haunt that lady for the rest of her life, not every event requires a jail term, though again I dont know the facts in full but just at face value from what we read, others trusted her with their kids and I dont see that she would be the type to have tried to kill her own child.

Sadan if you had men in Vietnam you had them in harms way. 80 year old troll.

WeAllHaveOpinions, (Just like we all have A-holes. "What a coincidence versus your name")

STFU man. The man risked his life for "YOU". Why so bitter? "Just my opinion".

Although I make no excuses for the woman, I empathize - everybody makes some stupid mistakes sometimes; and are just lucky that it's not the time that causes something horrible to happen.

Completely agree. One thing I would say is that people nowadays are more and more reliant on technology and seem to be more and more easily distracted. With 6 other kids I can quite easily imagine a scenario (2 of the other kids started fighting, or one of them hurt themselves, for example) where this woman's attention was shifted and in the mess of it all she thought she had put her 15 month old to bed for a nap. She's going to have to live with this mistake for the rest of her life.

While it is true that we all have made mistakes that may have cost a human life, not all of us have done something this negligent.

The family will live with this forever. The baby suffered immensely and died. The problem is this has been happening every summer for years, and many, many have died THIS summer.

We can't change the outcome for this child, but wouldn't it be prudent to teach OTHERS to CHECK ON THEIR CHILDREN AND NOT ASSUME THEY KNOW WHERE THEY ARE? You know, like people check on their cell phones, purses and car keys?.

Creek Dog you think yourself and he are the only ones who served, get real. You tell my father in law how in Vietnam they kept their guys out of harms way.

Maybe parents need to put a photo of their kids as a screensaver on their phone--at least THAT is something they'll be checking every ten minutes. And if staring at an image of your kid that often doesn't bring to mind the idle question, "Where is my baby right now?" then nothing will.

Ace
20 years ago we didn't have 24- hour news and th Internet. Most of the news we read was from a local paper and the news we saw on TV was a 30-minute recap of national news and a 30- minute recap of local news.

So unless it happened in your town you most probably would just never have heard.

Never the less, I can't think of a sadder story than one where a baby is killed.

Ace, you made a good point. We also must consider that in previous generations, many Moms stayed at home, it was safe enough to leave older children or a neighbor to care for the young while you shopped, and life in general was less cluttered with distractions and devices of today. While this woman made a terrible mistake, we all have. Every parent reading this can go back in time and remember an incident where you got busy or tired and lost track of where your child was. It could have taken a tragic turn. Ms. Rodriguez will live with this horror for the rest of her life, but I don't believe it was a crime. May God comfort those who grieve.

Ferdie, I agree that what happened was tragic. Nothing worse than the death of a child. But you're wrong. It IS a crime. Just because she didn't mean to do it, that doesn't make her any less guilty.

If you are speeding down the road and cause an accident that kills someone, it was certainly an accident, but that doesn't mean you aren't guilty. Of course you are.

Negligent homicide or Manslaughter at least.

we make our lives more cluttered by what we choose to add to it. Perhaps if we stopped becoming more self centered as parents and actually paid attention to our kids then our life would be cluttered with the things that mattered more, our kids! In the end it is ourselves we have to blame when we let other things interfere with our family, this is what has led tot he breakdown of the majority of families.

Even though it may have been a mistake to leave the baby in the vehicle in the end it was her allowing herself to take on more than she could handle, or to be distracted by possibly talking on a cell phone as she got out leaving the little ones to care for the others, it caused the death of the one who was the littlest and most innocent.

@ferdie, I was not a helicopter parent but I knew where my kids were and what they were up to, people need to stop making excuses as to why we cannot watch our own kids!!! Too many people today make it easier to handle by saying it was just a mistake, no it was neglect pure and simple neglect, people need to be held accountable for their neglect, esp when it costs someone else their life.

No, the increase of kids being left in the car is due to the placement of car seats, and their design. The seats are deep, so you can't see the kid from the side, and they're supposed to be facing toward the seat back of the back seat. I had my kids when it was okay to have them in the front passenger seat, and stories like these were far rarer.

Just me, I agree completely. We need to slow down, cut out the unnecessary distractions, and reevaluate our priorities. Our children should be top of the list at all times. Period. How important is that cell phone really. In the grand scheme of things that cell phone should be at least 3rd or lower on the list. I bet this woman wishes she could re-do that day.

RIP Benny and may his loved ones and this lady some how find peace.

My mom came close to leaving one of my brothers at a store once many years ago. After that she began doing a head count before she would leave and she only had the 4 of us. This was in the late '60's before technology over ran us. My baby brother had a birth defect that caused him to need more attention than a healthy child and often she was distracted making sure his needs were met. Can't & don't blame her it is just the way it was. Anyway, she would laugh about doing the count but it was her way of keeping us all safe.

Babs, car seats are not the problem here. (And at 15 months, the child was no longer in a rear-facing car seat, or shouldn't have been, anyway.) Back in the day, children napped in the back of station wagons, and on the floor behind the driver. They were still out of sight. They just weren't as safe.

Actually kids nowadays are supposed to be in rare facing car seats until at least the age of 2 but the recommend longer if your kid hasn't out grown their rear facing carseat. If memory serves this will become a new law soon.

Previous poster are right when they say parents are just too into themselves, their phones, their errands, their crap and not their kids. I'm a SAHM, (PROUDLY and my kids are spoiled, with love and attention and not material things like brats) and I have made sure to always put my kids first. I always know where they are and I ALWAYS check my car before leaving. My kids are 5 and 2 and I am constantly talking to them when it is just the 3 of us, we sing, play games... I just don't get in the car, fiddle with my phone and crank up the music and "forget"... if you're a real parent, there is NO WAY you could "FORGET" your kids. Make any excuses you want to make yourselves feel better but there is just no way. Shoot even when I go out by myself (rarely) I STILL check my car before going into the store or into my home just to make sure. Honestly, you can check your phone every 10 seconds for a missed txt message but you can take a quick glance in your back seat for your children? Give me a break.

solmssen I guess my heart is of stone I dont feel one bit sorry for the mother, now for the father yes my heart breaks for him he was at work providing for his family

i'm saving all of my compassion for the poor, cooked baby. forgetting a child is just soething you do not do.

Jazzy, that's the problem today. Too many stone hearts. I am glad I don't know you.

I found my 18 month old grandson locked in a closed car because his mother and grandmother didnt want to bother with him and they went into Kentucky Fried Chicken to enjoy a nice (fatty) lunch while the kid sweltered in the car. I went in and I wont tell you what I said to them but they got the message that I was pissed enough to call the police it they did not get my grandson out of that car NOW!!!! It is a $500.00 fine to leave a dog in a car in the heat.......but as child, a hmmmmmmmm...she was so sorry. BSBSBS!!!

Jazzy, a mom helping other mothers with their kids doesn't count worth diddly-squat, does it? Where were all the other moms when she was with their kids?

It doesn't matter now, does it?

keith, that is definetely negligence and might be considered depraved indifference. I think I would have called the police anyway. Had my ex left my son in a vehicle in hot weather I think I would have taken him to court for custody. The welfare of the child is of utmost importance. Something to think about anyway.

No, I feel no compassion for this woman. For the poor child that died horribly, yes.

A few years ago, there was a case here where a father let his toddler in the van for several hours on a hot day. The child died. Father was charged with child neglect. He got off because the judge opined 'he had suffered enough.'

He didn't suffer anything like his son did.

@notatroll,

You sure do have a way with words don't you. Not sure if you're trying to be nice but to say (poor "cooked" baby) makes me want to punch you right in your face. Yup, just that simple. "Sick".

Have a nice day...

I'm mother to 4 children and voluntary caregiver (CPS term) for another infant. I don't feel sorry for her and actually feel angry because regardless of how busy you are or how many distractions, how can you forget your child FOR THAT LONG PERIOD OF TIME. I can see MAYBE (not really) being distracted for 10 or 15 minutes, but a child of 15 months requires diaper changes, naps, snacks, etc. on a regular basis so anything that makes you forget your child for longer than 20 minutes is just not excuseable.

No, actually I feel for the parents too. My heart is not a stone, solmssen, but I am also concerned with how the baby felt right before he died. AND HOW MANY MORE WILL DIE BECAUSE PARENTS DON'T GET THE MESSAGE. They will grieve, too. When does it stop. It won't stop if we keep saying, oh, well, geez, oops, sorry..... got busy.

its not suvs that stink its parents who dont give a dam that stinks

so if it was a Toyota it would have been ok for a child to be left alone in? WTF

How did you decide she doesn't give a damn? You know nothing about this woman or what she is going through so try not to make yourself seem more of an idiot than you currently are.

Okay stop with the whole 'she just made a mistake' bs. I have baby sitted kids before, my aunt babysat like 10 of us when we were little. You always make sure you have every kid. It was not uncommon to hear 'where is ____', Besides, what did she do with all of those kids when she was running errands? Did she leave all 7 of them in the car?

You always look for your kid first. It's a natural reaction for a decent parent.

Jazzy..I agree but not murder one because that is permedatated but neg homicide would be proper.

people who think this was intentional seem odd to me.

you'd have to be a psychopath to do this intentionally. Maybe she has ADD. My flake of a good friend when she's off her meds could easily do something like this. No way I'd let her watch my kid

Jazzy,

• I can understand a 4 yr old knowing how to unbuckle himself but Benny Jr. was only 15 Mos. old. Maybe he could've learned how but sadly,.......he didn't.
• As far as "intentional" I think not.

Jazzy,

Not defending the mother, but a 15 month old, doesn't know about buckling themselves in.

So sorry for the loss of an innocent child.

Jazzy, I feel sorry for your son since you have a heart of stone.

trooper..She has a PHD in stupid!

do you really think giving her 25 to life would set an example to others? it is the law/laws in our country not to endanger children. Have you ever gone 10 miles over the speed limit? Have you ever run a redlight? Those are also laws in our country. So putting this lady in jail for 25 years will help who? Not the rest of her children,Not the tax payers that have to pay for her to be in jail,or dish out tons of money to foster homes.

Do you think this lady is happy with the outcome of her mistake? The only question I have is she legal to be here?

@Bob:

It got your attention, and this is one of the reasons for making the punishment severe . . .

Leaving a child, confused elderly person, handicapped person, or anyone else, including a pet, in a car on a hot day typically results in serious injury or death, and there is no excuse for it . . .

Describing it as "left in the back of hot SUV" tends to trivialize what happened, which is part of the problem . . .

I prefer the phrase "murdered by heat stroke", since it describes what really happened, and the punishment needs to fit the crime . . .

If this woman has other living children, then she needs to be kept in prison at least until her remaining children are 18 years-old or older, and she certainly needs to be prohibited from having caregiver or unsupervised contact with any future grandchildren, as well as children in general . . .

On the good side, since this happened in Texas, she will be sent to prison to do hard time for the betterment and enlightenment of others, for sure . . .

For sure! :-D

In home alone it was an old enough child he'd not be constantly underfoot so might not be missed immediately. But a 15 month old?

that is highly doubtful

if she wanted to kill her kid there are better less public ways

But it would be ruled a tragic accident and you would get a lot of public sympathy. Perfect crime.

are you a parent?

why call her a bitch? he kid is dead...she is not happy.

You don't think she's paid a steep price for her mistake?

Life is going to humble Michael someday, when he makes a terrible mistake (due to stress, distraction, sleep deprivation, poor judgment, whatever). But he sounds like the kind of person who will blame someone else for his own mistake.

You people make me sick. If this were anybody else you would scream for life in prison too. But because SHE'S a MOTHER, or scream poor women she's been through enough. Get off it, anybody with half a brain and a tv has heard the numerous stories about children being left in a hot car lately, it makes you more aware that it could happen. Plus she couldn't have been a very good mother, in a period of 3 HOURS this woman did not look for her 1 year old child at all.

And I am a parent, who had post-partum depression, bi-polar mood disorder, and little/no help from my kids father when I had a 2 year old and a newborn and somehow I never forgot my kid.

Lets face it people are idiots. I dont think id forget my pet snail on a hot day in a car

let alone a kid! I feel so bad for little benny.

Cant believe how often this happens. I hope they take her kids away, some people

should not have kids.

She didn't pay the price her son did.

I agree with Michail. This woman is a stupid bitch, this is no

excuse anyone can make to defend her. She killed this poor kid in the

worst possible way. Stupid bitch.

SHE LEFT HIM IN A HOT CAR FOR 3 HOURS! Damn, thats

one stupid bitch, I am pretty sure id jump off a bridge if i did that

to my kid.

What I find interesting is that you've labeled this woman an immigrant. Exactly where in the article does it say that? Right... it doesn't. You probably based it on her name, conveniently forgetting that Texas used to be part of Mexico. Except for Native Americans, we're ALL immigrants.... And, before you go there, I'm a white male of European descent... Other than that, I agree with you. Still, it's hard to imagine, even if Ms. Rodriguez was frazzled when she first got home, that she didn't notice for hours that a 15 month-old baby was not in the house. I don't have kids yet, but I have to believe a child that young needs more constant looking after....

Incidentally, here in NY about a month or so ago a white woman was arrested for leaving her 2 year-old in a hot car while she was getting her nails done. The child died a couple of days later and the "white suburban" parent is rightly facing charges...

Jassco,

Right, she didn't realize that Benny hadn't cried to have his diaper changed or for a snack! A 15 month old has needs that surely would arise in less than 3 hours. Ms. Rodrigues was charge with injury to a child; this goes way beyond mere injury.

The article makes no metion of whether or not Ms. Rodrigues is an immigrant.

The problem is that she left the one child that could not take care of themself in any way shape or form in the vehicle. The others were old enough to get out of the vehicle themselves. She forgot an infant for 3 hours. During those 3 hours did she even check on the other 6 children (some of them belonging to her neighbors) ranging from 3 yrs old to 7 yrs old? If she had it is a good chance that she would have noticed that her infant child was missing. At that age the child is usually crawling and getting into things and she didn't once wonder where that child was in 3 hours? Complete negligence.

Laurali, lots of articles, all colors and socioeconomic groups, all arrested and charged all over the country. Please do some research.

It wasn't about her being an immigrant. I have to agree with Jassco, we don't even know if she was an immigrant. THAT ISN'T THE POINT. You don't leave a 15 month old unattended ANYWHERE for over 3 hours, especially in a hot car. That is irresponsible, and negligent, and dangerous. The child is dead, and you are saying, ooops she was frazzled??

Yes, the parents will grieve, they are paying the price. They child paid, too.

I feel sorry for dogs kept in crates.

Many dogs sleep in crates - better that than in bed with you.

with so many kids, it might have been a good idea to reinforce to the older ones about safety issues... for example, to watch the younger ones while crossing the street and to make sure he is not in the car. It is obvious she had too many with her or that she basically was used to him tagging along without prompting.

Mine always had to be chased after, so I always held his hand and had him by my side.

Well, I think unless she had a mini-bus, she was breaking the law with that many kids in the car in the first place. So obviously safety is not something high on this woman's priority list.

it was her kid, she should have been responsible for him not the other kids..

Seriously, you are going to put responsibility on the other kids??? NO this was completely her fault. I know as humans we can make mistakes, but I can't believe any parent would not notice the absence of a 15 mo old for 3 hours. Even if she thought the kid was napping she should have checked on them w/in 3 hours. Remeber a 15 mo is barely walking/talking and into everything! This is a complete horror story and I'm sorry that the outcome was so devestating to this family. I don't think she should be allowed to ever have any kids in her care (they take away the right to own animals from people found to cause negligent damage) - this is a case of total negligence w/out excuse. I just hope that this little baby's death can be a huge awareness to others about the dangers of kids/people left in cars.

I doubt someone who forgot a child in a vehicle would remember to press a "CHILDSEAT" button.

How about parents just being responsible. I don't think you need to be a parent if you need a REMINDER that you have a child.

I can understand forgetting for a few minutes "Oh crap I left Benny in the car" but for 3 hours you don't notice your 15 month old is not in the house and neither does the rest of your brood???

yea wtf? We need a safety device now to warn stupid parents to remember their kids?

Wow. Maybe we should have one in the oven too in case some retard accidently inserts their infant

baby in it instead of their ham.

How can you tell from glancing in the mirror whether he needs a diaper change? Furthermore, I'm sure you think you glanced in the mirror periodically every trip, but I'm sure there were some trips where you drove on "autopilot" for quite awhile without thinking about your child. It's how the human brain works.

redmoth, I beg to differ. When my son was a toddler we took road trips for up to three weeks at a time. I did the same thing Carolyn does; I looked in the rear view mirror to check on my son if driving. If I was the passenger, I would turn in my seat to see if my son needed anything. And yes, I could tell by the look on his face or if he was squirming in his seat that he needed a diaper change.

Auto pilot was out of the question when my child was along for the ride.

How do you know she was messaging when she remembered the child?

The article states, "Detectives say when the father got home just before 4 p.m. (5 p.m. ET) he asked about the child – and that [sic] when the parents realized he was still in the SUV."

How about parents just being responsible. I don't think you need to be a parent if you need a REMINDER that you have a child.

I can understand forgetting for a few minutes "Oh crap I left Benny in the car" but for 3 hours you don't notice your 15 month old is not in the house and neither does the rest of your brood???

Sorry to say that California has over 700 inmates on Death Row and probably 99% of them will Never be Executed. Most of those are 1st degree Murder too. It's no longer up to the Judge and Jury who give the verdict and punishment. It's the lawyers and Special Interest groups. That being said this woman should spend some time behind bars for sure. We read about these almost daily and STILL folks don't get it or care. Sad.

If it were my kid, the law wouldn't have a job to do, I'd take care of it myself.

I could NEVER forgive myself for something like this, and I would save the taxpayers the expense of trying and convicting me.

Hey homesick yank if your such a dope that you as a mother or father don't know that you left a 15 month old in the car for 3 hours. Well I think all the laws in the world aren't going to help.

Army,I think Yank was being sarcastic.

BJ- I think he was make a jab at Republicans or Tea Party people.

Yank is an idiot. It IS illegal to leave a child unattended in a vehicle. Been that way for years. He should get out of Mommy's basement more often.