A St. Louis woman is facing a felony charge after police say they found a child just over a year old alone in an unlocked car with the windows down, parked in a back alley on the 5200 block of Chippewa Street. Inside the vehicle, officers discovered a phone still connected to a FaceTime call — and on the other end was 26-year-old Codi Rosenkranz, the woman accused of leaving the child there.
According to fox2now.com, officers responded to the scene on Saturday and found the child alone in the car before noticing the phone propped up with the video call active. Police reportedly used that same FaceTime connection to try to get Rosenkranz's attention, an effort that stretched on for several minutes before she apparently realized officers were trying to reach her. Court records cited by First Alert 4 state that Rosenkranz left the 1-year-old alone in the unlocked car in the alley that day.
Charge Stems From Welfare Endangerment Law
Rosenkranz has been charged with one count of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child creating substantial risk, per the same fox2now.com account. She posted a $500 bond on Sunday, and as of Monday, no hearings had yet been scheduled in the case, the station reports.
The charge falls under a section of Missouri law — Revised Statutes Section 568.045, titled “Endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree, penalties,” according to the Missouri Revisor of Statutes. St. Louis also has its own local rule on the books: Ordinance 66699, which the City of St. Louis describes as prohibiting a person responsible for a child age 10 or younger from leaving that child in a motor vehicle without supervision.
A Broader Pattern Behind the Warnings
Missouri's health department has tracked the dangers of children left alone in vehicles for years. State data compiled by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services shows 370 heat-related deaths statewide between 2010 and 2025, and 26 children died of heatstroke in a hot vehicle in Missouri between 1998 and 2025.
It remains unclear whether Rosenkranz has entered a plea or retained an attorney, and the case's next steps are not yet public beyond the reported bond and the absence of a scheduled hearing as of Monday.
