Baby Left in Car to Die Had Down’s Syndrome

A 5-month-old baby with Down’s syndrome who died after being left unattended in a car in La Mesa was identified Monday as Frank M. Martinez, authorities said.

The infant died Sunday of hyperthermia, according to Robert Engel, a county medical examiner investigator.

The child was left by his foster parent for more than three hours inside a van parked in the 5100 block of Guava Avenue, La Mesa Detective Michael McIntyre said. The windows were rolled up, and the car was directly exposed to the sun.

Police and fire departments, responding to a call at 5:30 p.m., arrived to find that the infant had just been removed from the van by foster family members, McIntyre said.

Efforts to revive the child, who had stopped breathing and had no pulse, were begun immediately and continued en route to Alvarado Hospital, where the baby was pronounced dead. Elaine Taillac, a hospital spokeswoman, said the boy’s body temperature when he arrived was 108 degrees.

The foster parent had returned home from a trip with two adult relatives and four children--one of whom was her own child and three of whom were foster children--ranging from ages 1 to 5, McIntyre said. Police would not release the name of the foster parent.

The foster parent had thought that one of the two adults had taken the Martinez infant into the house, and the other two adults thought she had taken in the baby, McIntyre said.

More than three hours later, the child was discovered in the car, and paramedics were called, McIntyre said.

The three other foster children have been removed from her care “for their own protection,” McIntyre said.

The foster mother was licensed by the county’s Children’s Services Bureau about a year and a half ago, “and there were no problems at the home,” said Carol Baenziger, a spokeswoman for the county’s Department of Social Services.

The dead infant was her fourth foster child, Baenziger said. She was unsure whether the baby’s natural parents have been notified.

“The case is going to be submitted to the district attorney’s office for possible criminal charges,” McIntyre said.

In San Diego County, 3,100 children are now living in 1,950 foster homes, Baenziger said.