Mom Charged With Murder for Leaving Baby, 6MO, to Die in Hot Car
Alyssa Guzman, Daily Mail, August 16, 2022
A Louisiana mother has been charged with murder after she left her baby to die in a hot car – three years after doing the same to her other daughter, who survived and who was taken away by social services.
Ivy Lynn Lee, 22, of Lake Charles, left six-month-old daughter Rissa in a hot car for five hours on Sunday while she was at work.
Ivy Lynn Lee
The mom-of-two had ‘flagged down’ an officer, who she told her daughter was ‘not breathing’.
Officers began ‘life-saving measures’ on the child before transporting her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
In an interview with investigators, Lee told two different stories, starting with that Rissa was not initially in her care – but she later admitted she had left the child in her car while she was at work.
‘She knew that baby was in the car and she chose to go to work for an entire shift. There is no excuse,’ Calcasieu Parish Chief Deputy Gary ‘Stitch’ Guillory told WAFB.
‘She claims she left the car running at first, but then a coworker told her that her car was running outside, and she didn’t realize it and went out there and just turned the car off.’
Deputies also revealed suspected marijuana was found in her car and believe she ‘intentionally’ left the child in the car.
Lee was charged with second-degree murder and possession of marijuana and was booked into the Calcasieu Correctional Center on a $1.2million bond.
Officials have also confirmed the young mother had previously left her other daughter Avereigh, now three, in a hot car in 2019.
Avereigh is now in custody of a family member, according to the Department of Children and Family Services.
Lee ‘voluntarily’ gave up the baby ‘before the state had to get involved.’ Guillory told WAFB.
In May, the mother wished herself a happy mother’s day, writing on Facebook: ‘Being a mother is definitely not easy but the love you receive from your kids is unconditional.
‘I can’t spend today with the amazing little girl that made me a mother but [I know] she feels me every day.
‘Ave, my oldest, you’ll always have the biggest part of my heart no matter what anybody tell you.
‘And Rissa, my youngest, [I know] you would love ya sister if you ever got the chance to meet her.’
