Tot's death sparks probe

When Trent Peterson's caregivers called 911 Friday to report that the 1-year-old boy was not breathing, police and fire-rescue workers arrived and found him unconscious in the family's Hollywood cottage.

Monday, police said it appears the boy actually died from being left in a hot car.

An autopsy showed the child died of hyperthermia.

''This death is consistent with a child being in a car in the heat for an extended period of time,'' said Hollywood police Capt. Tony Rode.

Homicide detectives in Hollywood will turn their information over to the Broward County state attorney's office. No charges have been filed. The investigation is continuing, Rode said.

The boy's mother, 19-year-old Danielle Peterson, and her boyfriend, Thomas C. Wade Jr., 20, were questioned by police on Friday. They denied leaving the baby in a vehicle, police said.

Several children have died in Florida this year after being left or trapped in a hot car.

In September, a 20-month-old Lakeland boy died after he locked himself in a Toyota for several hours. Cory Martin's mother apparently thought the child was with his father.

A 3 ½-month-old girl died in July after her father left her in a car at his office in Inverness. He forgot to take tiny Mackenzee Hynes to day care.

Also in July, Dr. Dennis Sierra, a Parkland dentist, left his 3-year-old son Andres in an SUV outside his office near Boca Raton. Sierra was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child.

Police arrested Antonio Balta, 27, in March after the groomer at Hallandale Beach's Gulfstream Park left his 9-month-old daughter Veronika alone in a parked car for 45 minutes while he watched horses race. She died and the father remains at the Broward County Jail on charges of aggravated manslaughter.