A Louisiana father is facing second-degree murder charges after allegedly leaving his toddler in a hot car for more than nine hours, authorities said. The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office reported that Joseph Boatman, 32, picked up his daughter from a relative's home shortly after 2:30am local time on Sunday, after reportedly consuming alcohol, per ABC News. Boatman is accused of placing his daughter, IDed by WDSU as 21-month-old Ansleigh Boatman, in her car seat but not removing her from the vehicle when he entered his home in Madisonville.
The incident came to light when a family member discovered the child unresponsive in the car later Sunday. Temperatures in Madisonville had reached 95 degrees that day, with a heat index of 105 degrees. Sheriff Randy Smith described the case as "devastating," highlighting the dangers of leaving a child in a vehicle during extreme heat. "This case involved compromised judgment, and the result was heartbreaking," Smith said in a statement.
WDSU notes the case is "complicated" by the fact that Boatman is a registered sex offender with multiple sex offenses logged in Texas, where he used to live before moving to Madisonville to live with his father, according to family members. A person close to Ansleigh's mother says the mom didn't want Boatman to have visitation rights, but she had to agree to that to win child support. The case marks the fifth hot-car child fatality in the United States so far this year, according to KidsAndCars.org. The nonprofit notes that an average of 38 children die in hot cars annually, with nearly 9 in 10 victims being 3 years old or younger. (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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