Man arrested after death of girl left in car for hours in Homestead, MDSO says
Investigators said a man has been arrested in connection to the death of a 1-year-old girl who was left in a vehicle for about eight hours over the weekend in Homestead.
The suspect in the case, who was identified as Keyner Vazquez de Leon, 22, was held without bond after his court appearance on Monday on charges including manslaughter of a child younger than 18, child neglect and leaving a child unattended in a car.
According to a report from the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, investigators said Vazquez de Leon normally took the 1-year-old girl from her home to a babysitter's house Monday through Saturday.
However, for reasons that are still unknown, the child was not brought to the babysitter's home, according to investigators.
According to the information provided by the MDSO, Vazquez de Leon returned to his home after picking the girl up and left her inside with the engine off while he was washing cars.
"He turned off the vehicle and entered his residence leaving the child unattended inside the vehicle," the arrest report stated. "The defendant began washing vehicles outside his residence while the child remained in the vehicle."
Around 3 p.m. Saturday, the girl's mother got in contact with Vazquez de Leon to check on her daughter's whereabouts, according to the arrest form. That's when Vazquez de Leon realized he never dropped her off at the babysitter's home.
That's when he found the girl unresponsive in his vehicle. He took her, while still in her carseat, back inside her home and called authorities, investigators said.
"What saddens me is that there was a little girl, the mother, she's going to have hard times now," neighbor Jose Juan Rodriguez said. "If he did forget about it, it's hard. You have to be constantly be thinking about your kids that are in the car."
The arrest report said Vazquez de Leon is not related to the girl, and he provided a statement corroborating all of the details that were in the arrest report.