PHOENIX — Police are investigating after a toddler died after being found in a car on Wednesday evening.
Phoenix police say they were called to the area near 24th Street and Baseline Road around 6:30 p.m. for reports of a child left in a parked car.
When officers arrived, they found a two-year-old boy inside the home in critical condition. He was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The boy had reportedly been found inside a vehicle by his parent.
What caused the boy's death is not yet known, and the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office will determine his cause of death.
Any case involving a child found in or near a car is a reminder, advocates say, of the danger that kills dozens of kids each year nationwide.
Kids and Car Safety shared statistics with ABC15. Those numbers show Arizona ranking fourth in hot car deaths with 51 between 1990 and 2025.
Dawn Peabody knows the pain of losing a child to a hot car death.
Her daughter Maya was the same age in 2008 when Peabody’s husband accidentally left their daughter in the backseat of their car.
"So that was a complete change of routine that day," said Peabody.
She said loved ones were visiting, and their work schedules that day were different. She said the change in routine led to the tragic mistake.
Peabody has become an advocate who, over the years, has pushed for new alerts in cars and shares advice.
"Look before you lock, every parent, every time, [and] check that back seat," said Peabody. "Make sure you know you don't have a little one."
She said the first location parents should look in if they notice a child missing is the pool and then their car.
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