A mother has been arrested after allegedly leaving her toddler son to die inside a hot car following a night out.
On Friday (1 May), Roxana Ramírez Ibarra picked her son up from school and took him to a relative’s children’s party.
Afterwards, they went to a house party, where the celebration continued and Roxana, 40, drank alcohol.
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Hours later, she left for her home with her son Vicente falling asleep during the journey.
She parked her Chevrolet Captiva outside her home at around 11pm, leaving the three-year-old strapped into his child seat.
At home in Mexicali, Mexico, she finished a bottle of wine and remained active on social media until around 5am on Saturday (2 May).
At about 11:30am, after waking up, she noticed it was unusually quiet inside the house.
She went outside to her car and found Vicente unresponsive inside, still in his child seat, according to the reconstruction of events.
It was later determined he had suffered a slow and painful death from heatstroke around two hours earlier.
Medical reports also noted first-degree burns on his thighs and forearms, consistent with exposure to temperatures reaching 45°C.
Temperatures outside the car during the period he was inside ranged between 25°C and 35°C.
Roxana claimed in a hearing that she believed she had taken Vicente inside the house, as reported by Need To Know.
She was charged with manslaughter by neglect, with alleged awareness of the fatal risk, on Tuesday (5 May).
María Elena Andrade Ramírez of the Baja California State Attorney General’s Office said that, based on current findings, Vicente’s death “was not simply accidental or the result of negligence”.
She said Roxana would have known her actions “could cause someone’s death, and she accepted that possibility”.
The prosecutor told local media yesterday (6 May): “The maximum sentence would be eight to 15 years, but if prosecutors manage to gather further evidence that aggravates the offence, the penalty could increase to as much as 50 years.”
Roxana had custody of Vicente at the time of the alleged offence, following a custody dispute with the boy’s father.
Her other children were with their father at the time, who is reported to be cooperating with the ongoing investigation.
Roxana has been remanded in custody.
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