Toddler Found Deceased in 109-Degree Closet After Being Left for 21 Hours by Parents

ADAMS COUNTY, IN – Parents of a two-year-old girl from Indiana are facing multiple charges after the child was found deceased in a closet where temperatures reportedly reached 109 degrees.

Berne Police officers responded to a call about a death on November 27. Upon arrival, they discovered an apartment completely trashed and covered in garbage to the extent that it was difficult to navigate. Cockroaches were found throughout the home, and a pot on the stove contained mold.

The deceased child was found in a closet in the bedroom. The parents reportedly stated, “That’s where she slept all the time.”

The toddler was lying in a crib on a soiled mattress, wearing a soiled diaper. Police noted that her body was discolored.

Officers measured the closet’s temperature, which ranged from 85 to 109 degrees, with the highest temperature detected on the child’s body.

Officers also found feces in the corner of the closet.

An autopsy revealed that the child died from hyperthermia.

The child’s mother, 21-year-old Sintia Perez, claimed she put her daughter to bed at 7:00 p.m. on November 26 and turned the space heater in the closet almost all the way up. She stated she woke up at 12:30 p.m. the next day and that neither she nor the child’s father, 23-year-old Jace Hirschy, checked on the toddler until after 3:00 p.m., at which point they discovered she had passed away.

Both parents were charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death and two counts of neglect of a dependent.

Two other children in the home, a five-year-old and a three-year-old, were taken into custody by the state Department of Child Services. Both children were found to have lice.

Sintia and Jace had their first court hearing on Wednesday, December 4, and are scheduled to appear again for a pre-trial conference on February 14.