North Augusta
15-month-old dies after spending nine hours in car; mother charged
(Aiken) April 5, 2006 - On
Wednesday, the Aiken County Sheriff's Office charged a
Lt. Michael Frank of the Aiken
County Sheriff's Department says, "It's been several years since we've had
child abuse by death charges. It's not type of case we see often."
Preliminary results of an autopsy
conducted Wednesday found the cause of death was dehydration.
Officials say Karla N. Edwards,
35, of
Lt. Frank says afterwards,
"She got into an automobile drove eight to 10 miles to a fast food
restaurant and called the sheriff's department."
Investigators say it took about
an hour after she left work for Edwards to call deputies, leaving them to
wonder what was she doing?
A Lowe's spokeswoman says Edwards
is suspended pending the investigation.
For now, the 35-year-old mother
remains in jail until her bond hearing Thursday.
Updated 10:40pm by Chantelle Janelle
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4732090
Son dies after 9 hours in car
By Sandi Martin |
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Karla N. Edwards,
has been charged with homicide by child abuse.
Police allege that
15-month-old Zachary Frison was alone for nine hours
Tuesday in his mother's car at the Lowe's in Aiken.
The lifeless body of Zachary Frison was found Tuesday in Karla Edwards' car after his
mother called for assistance.
AIKEN - After leaving her 15-month-old son in
her car for nine hours and then finding him lifeless, a
Karla N. Edwards, 35, left her son in her
Mitsubishi Lancer at 7 a.m. Tuesday when she went to work at Lowe's Home
Improvement Warehouse on
She found Zachary D. Frison
"unresponsive" when she left work at 4 p.m., he said, but didn't call
for help until 5:41 p.m.
"We suspect that she drove around for a
time trying to decide what to do," Lt. Frank said.
Investigators haven't been able to establish
whether the child was confined to his car seat all day, but preliminary autopsy
results show that he died of dehydration, Lt. Frank said.
Mrs. Edwards, of the 500 block of
She is scheduled to appear for a bond hearing
at 10 a.m. today.
Lt. Frank said she left the Lowe's parking
lot in Aiken and ended up at a Hardee's restaurant in
Lt. Frank said he could not discuss what Mrs.
Edwards told investigators.
However, according to the responding deputy's
report, Mrs. Edwards said the boy began screaming while she was in Aiken, so
she turned the radio up.
When she got to a grocery store in
Lt. Frank said investigators were suspicious
of Mrs. Edwards' statements.
"The information we were receiving was
not consistent with the evidence," he said.
A co-worker of Mrs. Edwards, who did not wish
to be identified, said that she seemed to be having family problems over the
past few weeks and was once sent home in tears. He also said she had been
having trouble getting a baby sitter.
"I can't believe something like that
happened," he said.
Lowe's spokeswoman Chris Ahearn confirmed
that Mrs. Edwards has worked for the chain for about nine years. She said the
company could not comment further.
Reach Sandi Martin at (803) 648-1395, ext.
111, or sandi.martin@augustachronicle.com.
Hotter than you
might think
When
the temperature outside climbs above 72 degrees for more than an hour, the temperature
inside an automobile can increase more than 40 degrees, according to a study by
That means
temperatures inside an unattended car could have been more than 100 degrees
Tuesday. The temperature at 3 p.m. was 72 degrees and was 73 degrees by 4 p.m.,
according to temperatures recorded by the National Weather Service at Bush
Field in
From the Thursday, April
06, 2006 edition of the Augusta Chronicle
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/040606/met_76273.shtml