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Mother Charged With Homicide After 1-Year-Old Son Died in a Hot Car From Hyperthermia

Mehki Rembert's body shut down in the 100-degree heat.

A 1-year-old boy in South Carolina died Wednesday after his mother left him in a hot car that reached temperatures of up to 133 degrees, reported The State.

Latisha Nicole Rembert, 24, was charged with homicide by child abuse/neglect after Sumter police found the baby unresponsive at the Swan Lake Iris Gardens Apartments. According to officials, Rembert left baby “Mekhi in a vehicle parked at a location in the county before driving to Swan Lake.”  

The Sumter County Coroner determined Mekhi’s official cause of death was hyperthermia. Coroner Robert Baker said a final determination won’t be made until toxicology test results come back from the State Law Enforcement Division.  

When someone has hyperthermia, the body loses its ability to sweat and regulate body heat. On Wednesday, the temperature in Sumter was 91 degrees, said Whitney Smith, meteorologist with the Columbia office of the National Weather Service.

According to San Francisco State University’s Department of Geosciences, after 10 minutes, 90 degrees outside will feel like 109 degrees inside a car. After an hour, that jumps to 133 degrees.

Baker said he could not determine how long the child was left in the hot vehicle; he has gotten conflicting reports.

Police were called to the Sumter apartment complex at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday. They tried to revive the child, Sumter police said in a news release. He was taken to Palmetto Health Tuomey Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Rembert was being held at the Sumter-Lee Regional Detention Center.

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