Inset: Tiffani Huff Holmes (Polk County Jail). Background: Home in Bondurant, Iowa, where Holmes' 3-year-old son died in a hot garage (Google Maps).
An Iowa mother who was taking a nap while her 3-year-old baked in a hot garage with temperatures outside in the 90s has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
Tiffani Huff Holmes, 41, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, an aggravated misdemeanor, court records say. Holmes was originally charged with child endangerment resulting in death, a felony. She is set to be sentenced on Aug. 28.
If she is headed to prison, it won't be for long. She faces up to two years behind bars, local NBC affiliate WHO reported.
The incident occurred on June 28, 2025, at a home in the 24000 block of Hawthorn Drive in Bondurant, which is near Des Moines, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.
A criminal complaint says Holmes "knowingly" left her son "for a period of time that resulted in hyperthermia, causing death."
The Des Moines Register obtained an application for a search warrant that said the boy likely overheated in a closed garage on a day temperatures reached 91 degrees. Holmes reportedly said she took a nap but could not recall how long she slept.
When she awoke, she went to the garage and found her son in a lawn chair. His lips were blue, and he was "hot to the touch" and "extremely sweaty," the warrant reportedly said. She waited about five or 10 minutes before calling 911. Dispatchers told her to take the boy inside the home to perform CPR, which she did.
Cops rushed to the home, but lifesaving measures failed and paramedics pronounced the boy dead. Investigators found a mostly empty bottle of vodka in the house. Holmes reportedly claimed she drank the alcohol after she found her son dead.
According to the warrant, the boy's father said the victim would not go into the garage on his own and could not open doors, particularly the one to the garage because it was broken and had to be lifted to be opened.
The father also said Holmes had abused alcohol for about five years and was not allowed to drink.