Detective Dan Holder of the Citrus County Sheriff's Office photographs the car in which Laurel Jurban was found unconscious Wednesday, still strapped into her safety seat. After being rushed to a hospital, she was pronounced dead.
Sheriff Jeff Dawsy peers inside a car where a 4-month-old girl was left for four hours Wednesday afternoon. The girl was pronounced dead at Seven Rivers Community Hospital. A relative accidentally left the infant inside the vehicle outside a residence at Badger Lane in Citronelle, the Sheriff's Office reported.
CRYSTAL RIVER - Rebecca Jurban and her 4-month-old niece, Laurel, had just returned home from dropping off the child's mother at college. It was 9 a.m. Wednesday, and the morning sun was beginning to beat down.
Jurban pulled into the driveway, then went inside to do some computer work and take a nap.
She awoke about 1 p.m. as the child's father asked, "Where's the baby?"
It was too late.
Laurel Jurban lay unconscious, still strapped into her safety seat in the back of the car. She had been there, in full sunlight with the windows rolled up, for about four hours. The temperature inside the car reached 130 to 150 degrees, said Citrus County sheriff's investigators.
Jurban told sheriff's investigators she had forgotten the child was in the car when she returned home in the morning.
The baby's father, Tom Jurban Jr., 22, who was in the house while the child was left outside, attempted CPR without success. Laurel was taken to Seven Rivers Community Hospital in Crystal River, where she was pronounced dead.
Laurel had been in the back seat of her aunt's 2000 red Ford Focus for the trip from Citronelle in northern Citrus to Central Florida Community College in Ocala, about a 50-mile round trip.
Rebecca Jurban was driving, and Candice Johnson, 23, the baby's mother, was in the front passenger seat.
After dropping Johnson off at the college, Rebecca Jurban and Laurel returned home to 7873 W Badger Lane.
Rebecca Jurban, 24, lives in the double-wide mobile home with the baby's parents, who are not married, and their 3-year-old son. Tom Jurban Jr. is her brother. The baby's grandparents, Tom Jurban and his wife, Sabrina, also live at the home. The elder Jurbans were out of town Wednesday.
An autopsy was scheduled for today.
Sheriff's investigators will review the findings with the state attorney's office and make a determination of what, if any, criminal charges may be filed, said Gail Tierney, a sheriff's spokeswoman.
