Newton County mom charged with murder after toddler dies in hot car

NEWTON COUNTY, Ga. - A Newton County mother is facing charges in the death of her 1-year-old daughter.

Deputies say Ariel Osbey left her toddler inside her car on the 2500 block of Highway 1162 near the intersection of Rocky Plains Road.

When deputies got to the scene, the child had already died as a result of heat exhaustion.

Dr. Cecil Bennett, medical director of Newnan Family & Associates, told FOX 5 that it can be dangerous leaving a child alone inside a car even if the temperatures outside don't seem dangerously high.

"The thing we should remember is that there's both the external temperature and the internal temperature in the vehicle. On days that are not as hot, if the child is still left there for a couple of hours, you'll still gonna increase that dangerous temperature."

Ariel Osbey (Newton County Sheriff's Office)

FOX 5 spoke to Janette Fennell, the president of Kids and Car Safety, who explained how that can happen.

"We have actually documented hot car deaths with temperatures as low as 57 degrees," she said. "When they're closed, there's no place for the heat to go."

"There's just so many factors that go into this whole thing: the direction the car is parked to the sun, when the baby had their last bottle, the color of the car the color of the interior. Are you on cement? Are you on asphalt? You know, all those things play into it," she said. "Never leave children alone in a vehicle. You'll regret it for the rest of your life. You'd rather be planning birthday parties, not funerals."

Osbey is now facing charges of second-degree murder and issuing a false statement.