‘I Began Walking and Forgot Her’: Mom Allegedly Leaves Baby in 116-Degree Car

Charlesie Edwards. (KMGH)

Aspen, CO (KMGH)—She told police, “I began walking and forgot her,” according to an affidavit obtained by Denver7 on Aug. 6.

Police said Charlesie Edwards, 27, was talking about her 1-year-old child who was found left alone and unresponsive inside an extremely hot car in Aspen on the afternoon of Aug. 2.

Temperatures inside the car, parked at 926 East Durant Avenue, reached 116 degrees, police said.

Medical crews treated the baby—which documents state was soaking wet with sweat—on scene for more than half an hour. The child survived and was placed with a temporary guardian, according to the affidavit.

Meanwhile, officers caught up with Edwards more than six blocks away “under the influence of alcohol and possibly drugs,” the documents read. She was booked into Pitkin County Jail on suspicion of criminal attempt to commit negligent homicide and child abuse.

Edwards was reportedly uncooperative with officers. The Aspen Times reports that she repeatedly tried to walk away from them while “acting very strange by asking odd questions”.

“While walking to my patrol vehicle, Charlesie Edwards cried and told me she had a severe alcohol problem,” Aspen Police Officer Kirk Wheatley wrote in the affidavit.

Edwards was placed in Pitkin County jail and she allegedly thought she was arrested because of DUI. After calming down from a tantrum where she threatened the lives of jail staff, child protective services counselors, and others, she became emotional about her daughter.

“I didn’t mean to hurt my baby,” Edwards said, according to the affidavit. “I forgot about her in the car. I can’t believe I did this. I could have killed her.”

Child Protective Services placed the year-and-a-half-old baby with a guardian. Edwards has two other kids—a 6-year-old and an 11-year-old, according to the affidavit. It is currently unknown whether they are still living with their mother.

She was bailed out of jail on August 5 after paying a $250 recognizance bond.

A judge said she was already on probation in Garfield County and was already being supervised by authorities, according to The Aspen Times.

NoHeatStroke.org, a website that monitors hot car deaths across the United States, suggests more than 20 children died of heat exhaustion in closed vehicles in the first 7 months of this year. It says it’s common for the temperature inside a vehicle to reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit when the ambient outside air temperature was in the 70s.

There have been no heatstroke deaths of children left in hot cars in Colorado since 2012, according to NoHeatStroke.org.

NTD reporter GQ Pan and The CNN Wire contributed to this article.