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A 36-year-old Nigerian woman, Gbemisola Akayinode, has been arrested and charged with felony murder after her 9-year-old daughter, Oluwasikemi, died of hyperthermia after being left inside a car for several hours in sweltering heat in Texas.
The Harris County Sheriff, Ed Gonzalez, confirmed the arrest in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on October 17, noting that the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences ruled the child’s death a homicide.
He wrote, “Arrest update: today, #HCSOTexas Homicide Detectives and our Violent Criminal Apprehension Team (VCAT) arrested Gbemisola G. Akayinode for the murder of her nine-year-old daughter, Oluwasikemi Akayinode. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences ruled the death a Homicide, as a result of hyperthermia.
“Gbemisola (11-17-88) is being charged with Felony Murder and being booked in the Harris County Jail.”
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According to earlier reports by Sheriff Gonzalez, detectives had responded to a call on July 1 at an industrial complex on Mayo Shell Road in Galena Park, near Houston, where a 9-year-old girl was left unattended inside a vehicle.
“The child was transported to LBJ hospital and pronounced deceased,” the report read.
ABC News, in a report on Monday, noted that court documents revealed that Oluwasikemi died on July 1 after being left in the vehicle for more than eight hours on a 99-degree day while her mother went to work at a manufacturing plant nearby.
It explained that Gbemisola reportedly arrived at work around 5:45 a.m., leaving her daughter in the car with food, a rechargeable fan, ice cubes, and water, and lowered the car’s back windows halfway and gave the child melatonin to help her sleep.
When she returned to the car around 1:53 p.m., after finishing her shift, the mother found her daughter unresponsive and blue, after which she screamed for help.
The documents were said to have further revealed that Gbemisola said she had taken Oluwasikemi to work with her several times previously, including the day before.
She said she brought her daughter with her because she didn’t have money for day care until her next paycheck, but investigators determined the foreman at her job was paying for day care for her, court documents said.
Local outlet KHOU11 also reports that the court documents revealed Akayinode blamed the girl’s death on prescription medicine given for ADHD, but also admitted that she gave the victim melatonin that morning and the night before.
The Daily Mail added that Sheriff Ed revealed Akayinode had also left a shade up in the front window of the car, making it difficult for passersby to see inside.
CPR was reportedly started on Oluwasikemi, who was then taken to nearby Harris Health Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, and the medical examiner’s office ruled her death a homicide as a result of hyperthermia.
The report added that Oluwasikemi’s death was one of four child fatalities involving hot cars in Texas during the first two weeks of July.
According to the report, a mother in Texas reportedly claimed in September that while she slept, her two children died in a hot car after they made their way out of their house and into the vehicle.
In August, another Texas mother was said to have “intentionally” left her 15-month-old in a hot car while she worked, and the baby died.
