Mom Arrested After Newborn Found Dead in Hot Car with 'No Air Conditioning, No Ventilation': Coroner

Mar. 15, 2025

Andrea Luncsford.Photo:Peoria Police Department

Peoria Police Department

An Illinois woman is facing criminal charges after her newborn was found dead in a hot car with no air conditioning or ventilation, authorities said.

On Monday, Sept. 16, Andrea Luncsford, 25, of Chicago, was arrested and charged with endangering the health and life of a child, thePeoria Police Departmentsaid in a statement.

Her son, identified as 1-month-old Grayson Luncsford, of Chicago, died of dehydration and exposure to extreme heat, Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood said at a press conference on Tuesday, Sept. 16,local outlet WCBUreports.

“An autopsy on little Grayson demonstrates that he suffered gross neglect due to severe hyperthermia and profound dehydration,” Harwood alleged,The Kansas City Starreports.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

During the course of their investigation, detectives detained Luncsford, transported her to the Peoria Police Department for questioning and subsequently arrested her, police said in the statement.

She was then transported to the Peoria County Jail, where she remains held, according to online jail records.

It is unclear whether she has retained an attorney who can speak on her behalf.

Leaving infants and children in hot cars without air conditioning or ventilation is dangerous, Harwood reminded people during the press conference.

“We’ve talked about safe sleep and the safe sleep suffocations that are preventable,” he said during the press conference, WCBU reports.

“This, too, is a preventable death,” he said. “When you have an infant or a kid in a car for any amount of time in this heat, the outcome is going to be as it is right now today, which is we have the death of a 1-month-old who has died because they were in a car with no air conditioning, no ventilation, no nutrition, no hydration.”

Harwood added, “Even an adult would suffer hyperthermia and dehydration.

“It’s going to happen a lot faster for an infant, unfortunately, because of body surface area and the makeup of their bodies and how fragile they are in their infancy anyway,” he continued.

This incident remains under investigation.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Peoria Police Department at (309) 673-4521, tip411 (anonymously) or Crime Stoppers (anonymously) at (309) 673-9000.

source: people.com