Four-Month-Old Dies In Minivan from Heat, Lakewood Twp, NJ

Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2025
Location: Lakewood Township, New Jersey

Conditions: Temperature of Lakewood was 59°F. Temperatures outside the vehicle reached a high of 63°F but the minivan was left in direct sunlight and temperatures inside the vehicle reached 96°F at 3:45pm. 

Emergency Request: Lakewood Township police arrived at a residential area around 1:45 p.m., after receiving a report of an infant in distress inside a vehicle, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer.

Situation: A wife left work at 9:30 am. Her 35-year-old husband, a father of six was getting the children dressed and loading them into the van for daycare. Normally, he would drop the four-month-old infant at the babysitter first. However, on that day, he had to change his route as he forgot the infant’s milk at home and had to accommodate the six-year-old who missed the school bus. He drops off the three older children and heads home to get the milk for the infant, but instead of stopping at the babysitter’s house, he goes directly to the Yeshiva, an educational institution. As he heads off to his school at 11 a.m., he fails to notice his hat on the front passenger seat, a reminder left for himself of a child still in the car. At 1:30 pm, he receives a call on the family emergency line and is met by the babysitter’s son asking why he did not drop off the baby. The father told police he gathered his belongings and ran to the car, removed his baby and called the ambulance service in Lakewood. The baby who was left in the car for two and a half hours was taken to a medical center and pronounced dead at 2:40 p.m. The time between the family notification call and the distress call was 15 minutes.

Emergency Response: The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office stated that by the time first responders arrived at the scene, the child was unresponsive. Responding Officers found Hatzolah Medical Services attempting to render lifesaving aid to a 4-month-old male infant. Emergency crews then took the baby to Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus, where doctors pronounced him dead. The baby was treated at the scene before being brought to an area hospital, where he later died. 

Sources: Jeff Goldman, NJ Advance Media; Beccah Hendrickson, 6ABC Action News; Eric Larsen and Janine Santucci, Monica Danielle, USA Today; OCPONJ.gov