Foster Mother Not Arrested in Death of Baby in Van

The foster mother of a 5-month-old Down’s syndrome baby who died after being left unattended in a hot van in La Mesa will not be arrested, police said Tuesday.

The foster mother, Mara Jo Grimes, left the baby for more than three hours Sunday inside a van parked in the 5100 block of Guava Avenue, La Mesa detective Michael McIntyre said. The car was directly exposed to the sun and the windows were rolled up.

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

The child, Frank M. Martinez, had stopped breathing and had no pulse, McIntyre said. Attempts to revive the baby were begun immediately, and he was rushed to Alvarado Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Police have been investigating the incident and do not plan to arrest Grimes, Detective Kenneth Harris said.

“It doesn’t serve anything at this time,” Harris said. “It’s not like she put the child in the van to punish it or anything.”

However, a police report will be submitted to the county district attorney’s office next week, containing a recommendation on whether to prosecute Grimes, Harris said. Harris added, “We can’t jump to conclusions. If she put the kid in a closet, and the kid died from the heat, that would be one thing . . . so far in the investigation, I can’t say that a crime has been committed.”

Grimes had returned home Sunday from a trip with two adult relatives and four children, ranging in age from 1 to 5, McIntyre said.

Grimes, who was sick and went directly to bed, thought one of the two adults had taken the infant from the van and into the house, and the other two adults thought Grimes had taken in the baby, McIntyre said.

The child was found in the car more than three hours later and the paramedics were called, McIntyre said.

Grimes’ three other foster children have been removed “for their own protection,” McIntyre said.

Grimes was licensed to be a foster parent by the county’s Children’s Services Bureau about 1 1/2 years ago, said Carol Baenziger, a spokeswoman for the county’s Department of Social Services.

There have been no problems at the home, Baenziger said, adding that the Martinez baby had been Grimes’ fourth foster child. She said she was unsure if the infant’s natural parents have been contacted.

The district attorney’s office will review the police report, but “we would not consider the investigation complete until we receive all the reports--including the lab reports,” said Linda Miller, a district attorney’s spokeswoman.

Toxicology tests will be completed in about three weeks, said Cal Vine, supervising county medical examiner investigator.

After all the reports are submitted, the district attorney’s office will decide whether to file any charges, Miller said. She could not estimate how long that will take.