Mother Charged in Death of Baby Left Inside Car

A La Habra woman whose 5-month-old son died after being left inside a closed car on a hot day was charged Wednesday with involuntary manslaughter and child abuse.

Kimberly Sue Fudge allegedly left the baby, Cailan Cutillo, inside her 1991 Buick with the doors closed for six hours Monday. When she returned, she found that the child was not breathing, authorities said.

The baby had been dead for at least two hours inside the car, where the temperature had climbed to triple digits, police said.

Prosecutors recommended that she be held in lieu of $500,000 bond.

Fudge, 29, told authorities that she had an argument Sunday night with Dylan Cutillo, the baby’s father, and he checked into a motel in Claremont. She went to visit him about 7:30 a.m. Monday, leaving the child in the car, and fell asleep in Cutillo’s motel room, police said.

Cutillo, 29, also of La Habra, was arrested Monday, but prosecutors decided not to file charges against him.

“After evaluating the evidence, we determined that we were not going to issue any charges against the father,” said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. Gibbons would not comment further.

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Times wire services contributed to this report.