Charges Weighed For Mom Who Left Baby In Minivan

CINCINNATI -- Prosecutors said it’s too soon to know whether criminal charges will be filed against a Wyoming mother who left her infant daughter for hours in a hot minivan.

Dr. Jodie Edwards called 911 after she discovered her 11-month-old daughter, Jenna, when she left work Wednesday afternoon around 4:30 p.m.

“I went out to my car a few minutes ago, and realized I left my baby in there,” Edwards calmly told dispatchers.

She continued talking to dispatchers as she went back into Cincinnati Christian University, where she taught graduate-level counseling classes, to seek help.

Edwards told dispatchers she had not touched her daughter, but she was certain the girl was dead.

Temperatures reached 90 degrees Wednesday in many parts of the Tri-state area, and the child had been inside the unventilated vehicle since morning.

Prosecutors said the investigation would focus on the mother’s state of mind at the time, because her actions must rise to the level of recklessness to justify criminal charges.

Detectives have interviewed Edwards and her husband, Chris Edwards, who also have a 3-year-old son.

“We need to be praying for the legal concerns that surround this situation, and pray that the Lord will enable her to continue to be home to be a mom to her son, Eli,” said Dr. David Faust, president of Cincinnati Christian University.

Edwards spoke Thursday morning with Faust to express her appreciation for a 9 a.m. prayer service and other gestures of support she’d received.

“I spoke with Jodie this morning by phone,” Faust told students and faculty. “She asked me to convey to all of you her heartfelt thanks for our love and support.”

CCU Releases Statement Concerning The Death Of Jenna Edwards

The girl’s death comes almost one year after the Aug. 23, 2007, death of Cecilia Slaby, who died outside Glen Este Middle School while her mother attended meetings inside.

Clermont County Prosecutor Don White declined to file charges against Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby, saying no law covered her actions, but he has proposed legislation that would impose misdemeanor charges on anyone who leaves a child unattended inside a vehicle.

Legislators have not yet enacted that law, but some experts said the tragic mistake could easily be repeated by other parents.

“This is a child we're talking about, so I know there are people thinking, ‘But this is a child,’ but it's a change in the routine, and when we're overwhelmed and stressed we can forget,” said Dr. Laura Stith, chief clinical officer for Child Focus in Clermont County.

Jenna Edwards' death is among nearly 400 child deaths due to being left in hot cars across the country during the past decade, said Jan Null, an adjunct meteorology professor at San Francisco State University who began tracking the number when one case happened in that area years ago.

A 2007 Associated Press investigation of many of those deaths found that prosecution and penalties against the people responsible varied widely depending on where the deaths happened and which parent or caretaker was blamed. Charges were filed in about half of the cases.

Of the deaths Null has tracked, about 20 percent were children abandoned intentionally and 30 percent accidentally got stuck in cars or trunks. Half occurred when parents accidentally forgot about a child, Null said.

This month, Null found reports of at least six heat-related child car deaths, from the Houston-area towns of Cypress and Webster to one Tuesday in northern Delaware. And he's researching four more potential cases in suburban Phoenix and Denver.

Such deaths used to happen only a few times a year. Now, two dozen or more occur annually – partly as an unintended consequence of legislation intended to make children safer in the mid-1990s, said Janette Fennell, founder and president of Kids and Cars, a Kansas-based safety advocacy group that tracks the deaths. After public outcry over airbag-related injuries, new requirements forced children to ride in the back seat, outside their parents' field of vision.

The cases of forgotten children often involve loving parents plagued by three factors, she said: miscommunication between caretakers, the "out of sight, out of mind" principle and a change in the parents' routine. In some cases, it's as simple as one parent taking a child to daycare instead of the other, ending up on a road detour or being otherwise distracted and forgetting about the change.

An administrator at Cincinnati Christian University said Edwards was used to the routine of dropping Jenna and Eli off at the same place, but now there were separate stops.

Another common thread is that parents believe it could never happen to them.

"Everyone's very quick to judge and say they could never do this," Fennell said. "This issue has so much more to do with how our memory works or doesn't work than anything else."

Hamilton County prosecutors said they expect police to complete their investigation next week, and the decision will then be made about whether to file criminal charges.

Seminary officials said they hoped the public would not rush to judgment.

“I hope people will understand the admonition of Jesus about casting stones,” Jon Weatherly, vice president of academic affairs.