Louisiana mom charged with murder for leaving her baby in the car for five hours

A Louisiana mother was charged with murder after she left her baby in a hot car for hours, three years after doing the same to her other daughter, the Daily News Reported. 

Ivy Lyn Lee, 22, left her six-month-old daughter Rissa in a hot car for five hours on Sunday while she went to work. The temperatures reached 92 degrees that day, according to a weather report.

When she returned, the mom “flagged down” a police officer, saying that her daughter was “not breathing,” according to a Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office new release. 

The officers conducted life-saving measures on the child and eventually transported Rissa to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. 

Officers investigated the incident and found that Lee had told two different stories. In one she claimed that Rissa had not been in her care, in the other she admitted to leaving the child in her car. 

'She knew that baby was in the car and she chose to go to work for an entire shift. There is no excuse,' Calcasieu Parish Chief Deputy Gary 'Stitch' Guillory told WAFB.

Lee was charged with second-degree murder and possession of marijuana since the police found some in her car. She was booked into Calcasieu Correctional Center on a bond of $1.2 million. 

This was not the first time Lee had left her kid in the car. In 2019, the young mother also left her other daughter Avereigh, now three, in a hot car. Avereigh survived the incident and is now in the custody of a family member, according to the Department of Children and Family Services.