Toddler found dead with temperature of almost 110 degrees after being left alone in closet with heater

BERNE, Ind. (TCN) -- A 21-year-old woman and 23-year-old man were taken into custody after a 2-year-old girl was found dead from hyperthermia due to being left alone in a closet with a space heater.

Court records show Sintia Perez and Jace Hirschy are both being charged with one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death and two counts of neglect of a dependent.

According to court records cited by WPTA-TV, on Nov. 27 at approximately 3:30 p.m., Berne Police Department officers responded to an apartment where Perez and Hirschy lived with three young children all under the age of 5. Assistant Police Chief James Newbold reportedly went to the bedroom where the 2-year-old girl was found dead and noted it was "disarrayed" with trash, feces, and a "very soiled mattress." The home was described as "extremely unhealthy."

Newbold reportedly "felt an immediate heat difference from the main bedroom to the interior of the closet," where the child slept. The temperature in the apartment ranged from 84 degrees to 108.3 degrees. Officials took the victim's temperature and noted her chest was 109.4 degrees and her forehead measured at 108.8 degrees. Newbold said the child's head was "darkly discolored."

WANE-TV reports Perez told investigators the little girl went to bed at around 7 p.m. on Nov. 26. Perez allegedly turned up the space heater and closed the closet door almost entirely shut. Perez woke up at 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 27, but neither she nor Hirschy checked on the victim until about 3 p.m.

Officials from the Department of Child Services took the other two children into custody. They reportedly both had lice.

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