An Ohio man has been charged with murder, two counts of endangering a child and involuntary manslaughter after allegedly confessing to police that he intentionally left his one-year-old child in a hot car for five hours, police said.
Landon Parrott, 19, brought the unresponsive baby to the Cleveland Clinic Union Hospital on the afternoon of Sept. 1, where he allegedly initially gave detectives inconsistent information about what had happened, New Philadelphia Police Chief Michael Goodwin said in a Facebook post.
"As the investigation continued and evidence was collected, the father was confronted with the new information and confessed to detectives what had happened to his son," Goodwin said in the Facebook post.
That new information, according to local Fox affiliate WJW, allegedly included surveillance video recorded across the street from the family's home, which investigators said allegedly shows Parrott leaving the boy alone in the car while his mother was working.
The video allegedly shows Parrott with the boy around 8:30 a.m., and then allegedly not again until 1:50 p.m., when Parrott went to pick up the boy's mother from work, WJW reported.
"During the interview it appears that this was not a matter of forgetting the child but was a deliberate act so as the child would not be a disturbance while in the house," Goodwin added.
Outside temperatures soared to 87 degrees while the child was left in the car, according to Goodwin. The inside of the car could have been as hot as 130 degrees, New Philadelphia Police Det. Capt. Ty Norris told WJW.
Parrott told investigators he had seen reports of children dying in hot cars, but left his son in there anyway, Norris told WJW.
An obituary for the boy says he was a "loving momma's boy" who "will be remembered for his sweet disposition and gentle way with animals, even at such a young age, and for his enthusiasm for his best friend Mickey Mouse."
Parrott is being held in Tuscarawas County Jail on $250,000 bond, police said in the Facebook post.
