6-month-old Alabama girl dies after being found
unresponsive in vehicle; mother one of two arrested
An infant girl died Monday after she was found
unresponsive in a car in Cullman County, and two people
- including her mother - have been charged in her death.
Sheriff’s deputies responded at 8 a.m. to a report
of an unresponsive juvenile in the West Point area, said
Deputy Chad Whaley.
The 6-month-old was found
unconscious in a vehicle.
She rushed to a
hospital where she was pronounced dead, said Cullman
County Coroner Jeremy Kilpatrick. Authorities have not
yet disclosed the cause of her death.
Authorities
said the investigation so far has “uncovered sufficient
evidence of neglect.”
The girl’s mother,
34-year-old Lauren Peyton Whittle of Cullman, and
34-year-old Vinton Eugene Rockwell, of Vinemont, are
charged with manslaughter.
Rockwell’s
relationship to the baby and Whittle has not yet been
disclosed.
Both remain held in the Cullman County
Detention Center.
“Anytime law enforcement and
first responders work cases involving children, it is
very emotional for everyone involved,’’ said Sheriff
Matt Gentry. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the
family and those affected.”
2 kids left in hot cars have
died in Alabama this year: ‘They are reckless acts’
A Blount County toddler who died after being left in
his grandfather’s truck earlier this week is the second
child to die in a hot car this year in Alabama.
In June, an infant girl was found unresponsive in a car
in Cullman County.
Authorities at the time did
not disclose the cause of her death or label it a “hot
car” death, but recent indictments against a man and
woman in the case state that is how and why the girl
died.
A Cullman County grand jury on Aug. 23
indicted Lauren Peyton Whittle, 30, and Vinton Eugene
Rockwell Jr., 34, on reckless manslaughter in the death
of Whittle’s 6-month-old daughter – Alora Suzanne
Whittle.
The suspects, according to the
indictment, “did recklessly cause the death of A.S.W. by
leaving the infant in a hot vehicle.”
Rockwell
was not related to the infant.
Sheriff’s deputies
responded at 8 a.m. on Monday, June 27, to a report of
an unresponsive juvenile in the West Point area.
The 6-month-old was rushed to a hospital where she was
pronounced dead, said Cullman County Coroner Jeremy
Kilpatrick.
Court records show Rockwell was
released from the Cullman County Jail on Friday to begin
a long-term substance abuse recovery program. Records
state Whittle is also in rehabilitation.
A trial
date for Whittle has been set for Feb. 27, 2023. No
trial date has been announced for Rockwell.
On
Tuesday, 2-year-old Ian Wiesman died after being left in
his grandfather’s truck. Ian was found unresponsive just
before 3 p.m. and pronounced dead on the scene.
His grandfather, 56-year-old William “Bill” Wiesman, is
charged with reckless manslaughter and criminally
negligent homicide.
Blount County District
Attorney Pamela Casey announced the warrants Wednesday
afternoon, saying Wiesman thought he had dropped the
child off at daycare.
“These are not intentional
acts, they are negligent acts, they are reckless acts,’’
Casey said.
“He always thought he took the child
to daycare. On three occasions he was back in the truck,
drove in the truck with the child in the back,” Casey
said. “As a result of his behavior, his acts, the child
died,’’ she said.
So far this year, 30 children
have died after being left in hot cars, according to
Kidsandcars.org. Three of those happened this week,
including Ian.