Investigators said a disrupted daycare routine preceded the child’s death in a Lawrenceville hospital employee parking lot.
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — A routine morning daycare trip, hospital surveillance footage and a passing employee’s 911 call have become central to the investigation of a 1-year-old boy’s death inside a parked vehicle in suburban Atlanta.
Lawrenceville police said the boy’s mother, 29-year-old Deja Coleman, arrived for work at Northside Gwinnett Hospital shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday and went inside, leaving the child restrained in the back seat. About nine hours later, an employee walking through the parking lot saw the unresponsive boy and contacted authorities. Coleman was later charged with second-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to children.
Investigators said Coleman began the morning with her three children in the vehicle and stopped at their daycare. Her usual practice was to take her two older children inside before returning for the baby, Lawrenceville police Capt. Dena Pauly said. Coleman told officers that she brought the older children into the building but forgot to make the second trip to retrieve her youngest child.
Coleman then drove to the hospital’s employee parking lot. Surveillance video confirmed that she arrived at about 6:55 a.m. and entered the hospital for her shift, police said. Authorities have not publicly described any activity involving the vehicle between her arrival and the discovery of the child that afternoon.
At about 3:50 p.m., another hospital employee returning to a nearby car saw the toddler slumped in his car seat. The employee tried to get a response and called 911, according to police accounts. Officers working part-time assignments at the hospital arrived in less than three minutes and broke a vehicle window to reach him.
Emergency responders attempted to revive the child, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said a temperature reading taken inside the car about an hour after the window was broken registered 117 degrees. The reading did not represent the highest temperature reached during the day, and authorities have not released a complete temperature analysis.
Police have not identified the child or announced a final cause of death. An official finding would generally depend on the medical examiner’s investigation, including available physical and environmental evidence. No such findings had been released by Friday.
The case comes during a year in which national tracking organizations have reported at least 16 or 17 pediatric deaths involving heat exposure in vehicles. The totals differ because organizations use different confirmation methods and update their databases at different times. The National Safety Council says an average of 37 children younger than 15 die in hot vehicles each year.
National data show that many such cases involve a caregiver who did not realize a child remained in the vehicle. That broader pattern does not determine criminal responsibility in an individual case. Coleman’s legal responsibility will depend on Georgia law and the evidence presented by prosecutors.
Police said Coleman was devastated when she learned of her son’s death. Her two older children were placed with their father, authorities said. Coleman was booked into the Gwinnett County Detention Center, and reports available Friday did not identify an attorney speaking on her behalf.
Investigators are continuing to review the timeline and await further medical findings. Authorities had not released information about Coleman’s next court date or indicated whether the charges would be presented to a grand jury.
Author note: Last updated July 31, 2026.