Kristen Graham, Seaford, Virginia caretaker charged with hot car death of 11 month old toddler girl, Myrical Wicker and dog after night of partying.
A Virginia caretaker has been arrested following the hot car death of an 11 month old toddler girl and a dog after the woman left the child and animal in a vehicle after over-sleeping following a night of all night partying.
Kristen Danielle Graham, 40, of Seaford was charged with one felony count of child neglect and one misdemeanor count of animal cruelty by the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office.
Graham was given responsibility of the child, named Myrical Wicker by her 17-year-old mother for two days. The dog belonged to Graham.
Charges could be upgraded to homicide
Sheriff Ron Montgomery told Newsweek that officials are waiting for the baby’s autopsy results to decide if charges will be upgraded to homicide.
During a Wednesday press conference, Sheriff Montgomery said Graham received a phone call from her friend at around 1am asking her to bring cigarettes on September 12. Her friend couldn’t buy them herself because she was caring for an elderly person in Newport News at that time.
Graham put the child and dog in the back of the car, went to a 7-Eleven to get the cigarettes and spent some ‘considerable’ time at her friend’s place.
She then drove back to York County at 8am and left the baby and dog in the car with the windows rolled up. At around 2.30pm, Graham ‘woke up’ when she received a phone call and went out to check on the dog and baby.
Both the baby and dog were dead by that point.
Court documents show 80-year-old Paul Kudlaty brought the deceased infant to Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital in a trash bag. He is not facing charges.
The sheriff added that Graham has given conflicting accounts of why the child and dog were left in the vehicle.
‘She would initially have us believe that she was in the vehicle along with the child and the dog for that duration of time,’ he said. ‘Our evidence that we have collected doesn’t support that information. We believe that she left them, went in the house, went to sleep and came back out 6 hours later.’
He said that the office was investigating if she deliberately went into the house and left them both in the car.
Stated Sheriff Montgomery: ‘These are not typical situations that we deal with in York County, and when you do come across the death of a child, it affects everyone — the investigators, the law enforcement people there, the EMS people that have to respond to these types of things.
Heat index was ‘at least 100 degrees’
‘And I can tell you that the mood of the agency today when we had a briefing on it this morning is somewhat shock and disbelief, even though we’re professionals and we have to do everything we possibly can do to do a thorough, professional investigation.’
According to Montgomery, the heat index was ‘at least 100 degrees’ while the child and the dog stayed in the car between around 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
The sheriff said that investigators are trying to figure out how hot the inside of the vehicle would have been before the deceased infant and dog were discovered.
The sheriff mentioned that Graham would often babysit the child and care for her ‘friend of a friend’s baby’.
Police officials have not revealed the name of the 17-year-old mother and information about the dog.
Graham is currently being held at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail.
