Georgia mother Deja Coleman charged with murder after toddler dies in hot car

On July 29, 2026, police responded to a report of an unresponsive child in a locked vehicle parked in the employee lot of Northside Gwinnett Hospital in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Officers broke the window and found a 1‑year‑old boy dead in his car seat; the interior temperature reached 117 °F (47.2 °C) an hour after removal. The child's mother, 29‑year‑old Deja Coleman, a hospital employee, was arrested and charged with second‑degree murder and second‑degree cruelty to children. Coleman told investigators she dropped her two older children at daycare that morning and forgot to retrieve the infant while she worked an eight‑hour shift. Gwinnett County Police Captain Dena Pauly said Coleman was "devastated" by the child's death. She was booked into the Gwinnett County Detention Center. The incident marks the 17th pediatric hot‑car death in the United States this year, according to the National Safety Council.