A tragic case of alleged neglect in Indiana has left a 2-year-old girl dead and her parents facing serious criminal charges. Police say the child was left overnight in a closet with a space heater that caused her body temperature to rise to a deadly 109 degrees Fahrenheit.
Authorities responded to an apartment complex in Berne, Indiana, on the afternoon of November 27, after receiving a call for a death investigation. Upon arrival, Berne Assistant Police Chief James Newbold described feeling a striking heat difference when entering the bedroom and approaching the closet where the child was found.
Inside the closet, investigators discovered a disturbing scene. The space was described as being in “disarray,” with trash scattered throughout, along with a soiled diaper and feces. The toddler was found in a crib on a heavily soiled mattress. Police noted discoloration on the girl’s body, particularly her head, which was described as “darkly discolored.”
Investigators measured temperatures throughout the apartment, revealing extreme heat levels in the closet where the child was left. The toddler’s body temperature was recorded at 108.8 degrees on her forehead, 109.4 degrees from her chest, and 108.8 degrees from another reading. Temperatures in the closet reached as high as 108.3 degrees, while the rest of the apartment ranged from 84 degrees to lower levels.
According to police, the girl’s parents, 21-year-old Sintia Perez and 23-year-old Jace Hirschy, admitted to putting the child in her crib inside the closet at approximately 7 p.m. on November 26, leaving a space heater turned up nearly to its maximum setting. Shockingly, neither parent checked on the toddler for over 18 hours, until around 3 p.m. the following day.
An autopsy confirmed that the child died from hyperthermia, a condition caused by prolonged exposure to extreme heat.
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The Indiana Department of Child Services removed the couple’s two other children from the home following the incident. Authorities reported that both children had lice and were living in what they described as “extremely unhealthy” conditions.
Perez and Hirschy are now each facing one count of neglect resulting in death, along with two additional charges of neglect tied to the unsafe environment for their other children.
The pair appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday and remain in custody at the Adams County Jail.
