Lorenzo Elias Rodriguez (Source: Midland County Sheriff's Office)
MIDLAND, Texas - A 25-year-old Texas man has been charged with capital murder after his 2-year-old daughter died inside a locked vehicle while he slept for hours following a night of drinking, police said.
Texas hot car death
What we know:
Midland Police Department officers responded just before 8 p.m. Sunday to the 100 block of East Pecan Avenue after receiving reports of an unresponsive toddler locked inside a car.
When officers arrived, they made contact with Lorenzo Rodriguez, 25, and members of his family.
According to police, relatives went to the home Sunday evening to check on Rodriguez and his daughter after learning he had consumed alcohol the night before.
After repeatedly knocking on the front door without a response, family members removed a window air-conditioning unit on the side of the house to gain entry, investigators said. Inside, they found Rodriguez asleep around 8 p.m. Police said Rodriguez had been sleeping since approximately 11 a.m.
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When relatives could not find the 2-year-old girl inside the home, they ran outside and spotted her inside a non-running black Kia passenger car. Family members broke a window to pull the child out of the vehicle and rushed her to Midland Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Following a preliminary investigation into the circumstances of the child's death, police arrested Rodriguez and charged him with capital murder.
Dig deeper:
According to weather statistics, the high in Midland, Texas on Sunday, July 26 was 99 degrees. According to the National Weather Service, when it is 99 degrees outside, the temperature inside a car can rocket past 130 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit in less than an hour, posing an extreme and deadly risk to people and pets. The temperature inside the vehicle could jump 20 degrees in just 10 minutes, and will be more than 130 degrees in 30 minutes.
Midland is on Interstate 20 halfway between Dallas and El Paso.
The investigation remains ongoing.
The Source: Information in this article is from the Midland Police Department and the National Weather Service.