JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- A father who apparently left his 4-month-old daughter in the family's SUV for nine hours on a warm day has been charged in the infant's death.

Vince A. Jackson Jr. was being held on charges of endangering the welfare of a minor. Authorities said the infant's body temperature was very high, and the cause of death was listed as hypertension related to environmental exposure.

The child, named Jada, was found unconscious Thursday in a child seat in the back seat of the Ford Explorer by family members, Hudson County prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.

Jackson, 31, a musician, had come home from work at 4:30 a.m. Thursday, slept for a while before driving his 5-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter to school about 7:30 a.m., taking the infant with him, DeFazio said.

Jackson apparently forgot to drop the infant off with a baby sitter before returning home to go back to sleep. DeFazio said the father inadvertently left the girl in the SUV.

The child was found in the vehicle after 4:30 p.m. after her grandfather picked up her siblings from school, then went to get her from the baby sitter.

When he learned she hadn't been left with the sitter, he took the other children home and looked for the infant there. Family members checked the vehicle when they couldn't find the child inside the home.

Family members then summoned police, whose efforts to revive the girl were unsuccessful. She was pronounced dead at Greenville Hospital.

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