Inset: Nyla Simmons (Lee County Sheriff's Office). Background: Kia dealership in Albany, Georgia, where she allegedly left her 7-month-old baby in her vehicle (Google Maps).
A Georgia mother is behind bars after her 7-month-old died when she left the infant inside a hot car at the dealership where she worked on a scorching day.
Nyla Simmons, 22, faces charges of second-degree murder and cruelty to a child, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The Lee County Sheriff's Office began investigating on Oct. 16 after Simmons drove the unresponsive infant to a local hospital from Kia Automotive Dealership on Ledo Road in Albany, which is located in the southwest part of the Peach State. Doctors pronounced the baby, who has not been publicly identified, dead.
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According to local NBC and ABC affiliate WALB, Simmons left the baby inside the car before going to work at the dealership. She later found the baby unresponsive and drove the child to a hospital. The coroner conducted an autopsy the day after the infant's death. The results of that autopsy have not been made publicly available.
Coroner Michael Fowler told WALB the results could take time to come in.
"If there is not any trauma to the child or injuries to the child, then a lot of time, you got to wait on [toxicology] and the histology, all of that, to come in and see what happened," Fowler told the TV station.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office requested the GBI to investigate the incident. Agents arrested Simmons on Nov. 3.
While it is unclear how long Simmons allegedly left the baby in the car, temperatures in Albany reached a blazing 88 degrees on the day in question, according to Weather Underground.
Simmons remains in the Lee County Jail.
