A Charlotte mother has been taken into custody following the tragic death of her 8-year-old daughter, who succumbed to the heat after being left in a parked car on a scorching Wednesday afternoon. Channel 9 reported that the outside temperatures peaked at 94 degrees Fahrenheit, while the girl was left inside the vehicle for approximately three and a half hours.

In a distressing twist of events, as obtained by Channel 9, the mother, identified as 36-year-old Ashlee Rochelle Stallings, was attending to her job at an Amazon Distribution Center during the time her daughter was enduring the rising temperatures alone in the car.

Authorities informed QC News that following the medical emergency caused by the high temperatures within the car, which on that day soared up to 99 degrees, Stallings transported her child to a NAPA Auto Parts store where emergency services were called to the scene.

The charges against Stallings, according to WBTV, include involuntary manslaughter and willful act causing serious injury by child abuse. Tragic incidents such as this are a somber reminder that an average of 40 children perish annually from vehicle-induced heatstroke in the US—a statistic that encapsulates the seemingly endless stretch of preventable grief.

The bond for Stallings has been set at $250,000, as she faces the legal repercussions of the events that unfolded. This incident has once again brought to the forefront the critical dangers of vehicular heatstroke, especially during the summer months, and the imperative that guardians never leave children unattended in a car under any circumstances.