A 25-year-old Texas father is accused of capital murder after he allegedly left his 2-year-old daughter locked inside a sweltering vehicle for roughly nine hours while he slept off a night of drinking, according to police.
Lorenzo Elias Rodriguez was taken into custody over the weekend and charged with one count of capital murder of a person under 10 years old, court records show. The Midland Police Department said officers were dispatched at about 7:56 p.m. Sunday to a residence in the 100 block of East Pecan Avenue on a report of an unresponsive child locked inside a vehicle.
Investigators said Rodriguez’s family told them he had consumed alcohol Saturday evening. When relatives were unable to reach him Sunday, they went to his home to check on him and his daughter, police said. After knocking repeatedly on the front door without getting a response, family members removed a window air-conditioning unit and climbed inside the residence.
Relatives found Rodriguez asleep and woke him at about 8 p.m. Police said he had been asleep since approximately 11 a.m.
“The brother and sister-in-law were unable to locate the child inside the residence,” a police news release stated. “They then ran outside to a black Kia passenger car, where they found the child inside the vehicle. The vehicle was not running, according to police. The family members broke a window to gain access to the vehicle and removed the 2-year-old child.”
The family rushed the toddler to Midland Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead shortly after arriving.
Following a preliminary investigation, authorities determined they had probable cause to charge Rodriguez with capital murder. Court documents obtained by Midland CBS affiliate KOSA and Odessa-based NBC affiliate KWES reportedly mirror the sequence of events described by police, including that relatives entered the home after removing the window air-conditioning unit, found Rodriguez asleep, searched unsuccessfully for the child inside and ultimately located her in the locked vehicle outside.
Temperatures in Midland reached 99 degrees on Sunday, according to Midland Fox affiliate KDFW, which cited National Weather Service data showing that temperatures inside a parked vehicle can climb well above 130 degrees in less than an hour under such conditions.
Jail records show Rodriguez is being held in the Midland County Jail without bond. It was not immediately clear when he was scheduled to appear in court.