Background: The Freshies convenience store in Milford, Maine, where authorities say the victim died (WABI/YouTube). Inset: Kelly Brown (Penobscot County Sheriff's Office).
A woman in Maine who left her 3-year-old daughter locked inside a hot SUV outside a convenience store until the child died said she was camping, according to authorities.
Kelly Brown, 41, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter of a family or household member in the death of Fiona Brown, as well as aggravated animal cruelty, the Maine Attorney General's Office told Law&Crime.
If the judge presiding over the case accepts the plea agreement, Brown's charge of depraved indifference murder — which she was later indicted on — will be dropped, the agency added to regional ABC affiliate WMTW.
On Aug. 9, 2025, deputies with the Penobscot County Sheriff's Office arrived at the Freshies convenience store in Milford, Maine. The town is located on the Penobscot River in the central part of the state.
"[C]oncerned family members" had asked authorities "to locate and check their well-being," according to the Maine State Police. As deputies arrived at the scene, they found Fiona dead inside her mother's SUV, which had its windows closed, along with the family's 13-year-old dog, Penelope, who was also dead.
Investigators said they found Brown nearby and detained her. She reportedly said she had been camping with her daughter in the vehicle and that she went to throw trash away when she was swept down the river. However, officers noted that Brown was not wet.
Surveillance footage showed Brown leaving her daughter and dog in the locked SUV hours before deputies got there, per WMTW. According to court records, the high temperature in Milford, Maine, that day was 82 degrees Fahrenheit.
Maine State Police said the sheriff's office called them in to help with the investigation. Brown was arrested and charged the following morning after her daughter's body was found.
Following an autopsy conducted on Fiona's body, the deputy chief medical examiner reported that the preliminary findings were that hyperthermia was "the most likely cause of death."
Brown was in the area at the time visiting family in Maine, authorities said. Brown's own mother was the one who reported her and Fiona missing as Brown had apparently been making "bizarre" posts on social media.
The defendant had been saying for several weeks that she was seeing spirits, per area CBS affiliate WABI.
Brown is expected to be sentenced in November.