BAKER COUNTY, Fla. — An arrest has been made in relation to a 10-month-old Baker County baby's death after being found in a hot car Wednesday, according to the Baker County Sheriff's Office.
Rhonda Jewell, 46, and babysitter of the child, was arrested and is facing an aggravated manslaughter of a child charge. She has since bonded out.
On Wednesday, the unidentified mother of the baby girl, called police to tell them that her child was not breathing and that her lips were blue as she went to pick her up around 1 p.m., the incident report states.
Deputies responded to a home on Estate Street in Macclenny, Florida where deputies found the infant inside the garage laying on the seat of a golf cart and began performing life-saving measures. First responders arrived at the scene and took the child to a local hospital where she was later pronounced dead. Deputies told first responders that the infant's skin was very hot to the touch.
According to the report, the sheriff's office says probable cause was found and that the temperature inside the vehicle reached "over 133 degrees, for a period of at least 5 hours." Medical personnel said the baby's external temperature recorded 102.1 degrees while her internal temperature reached 110 degrees, but medical staff at the hospital informed police that 110 is the highest temperature the thermometer could read.
Police say Jewell was supposed to be babysitting the child along with three other children. The report states that Jewell supposedly picked up the child at 8 a.m. and drove to an address on Estate Street where she was going to babysit the four children. The report further states Jewell forgot she had the baby in the vehicle while interacting with the other children, as she was not found until 1:12 p.m. Jewell had been babysitting the 10-month-old girl "off and on since June."
Jewell made her first appearance in court Thursday morning. Her bond has been set at $25,000 with GPS ankle monitoring also required upon release.
Sheriff Scott Rhoden posted the following statement to the sheriff's office Facebook page that reads in part:
"I am asking my community to respect the privacy of the victim’s family and to please join me in prayer for the family and everyone involved. Each of us are given the gift of life every morning we wake up and every evening when we finish our day, we are blessed if our family is safe and healthy. In the blink of an eye, our world can be turned upside down. Please be mindful of this when trying to understand the tragedy that took place in our small town yesterday."
