Mother arrested after one-month-old newborn left in hot car died of 'severe' hyperthermia and dehydration

An Illinois mother has been arrested after her one-month-old son died of “severe” hyperthermia and dehydration – after the newborn was left in a hot car for an “extended period of time,” according to authorities.

Andrea Luncsford, 25, was charged with endangering the health and life of a child after her newborn baby was found dead around 7 p.m. Monday evening, Peoria police said.

An autopsy revealed that the baby, identified as Grayson Luncsford, had been left in a vehicle without food, water or air conditioning for an “extended period of time,” WCBU reported.

Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood said it was difficult to determine exactly how long little Grayson was left in the pickup truck, but authorities told KBTX he spent more than four hours in the vehicle.

According to Weather.com, the high temperature on September 16 was 90 degrees and the low was 59 degrees.

The baby was taken from the pickup truck by his grandfather and placed in a yard before police arrived. Harwood said he had been dead “for some time” when they arrived.

“This is also a preventable death,” Harwood said, according to WBCU.

“If you take a baby or a child in a car for a long time in this heat, the result will be the same as today: we have the death of a one-month-old baby who died because he was in a car with no air conditioning, no ventilation, no food and no hydration.”

The medical examiner concluded that Grayson died as a result of “gross neglect resulting in severe hyperthermia and severe dehydration,” the Kansas City Star reported.

Harwood urged parents to remember that a toddler's body cannot tolerate being left alone in a car for long periods of time.

“We have to remember that not only an infant but an adult can suffer from hyperthermia and dehydration,” Harwood said, WCBU reported.

“Unfortunately, this happens much more quickly in an infant because of the surface area and the structure of their body and because they are still fragile in infancy.”