4-Year-Old Girl Dies in Hot Car

Los Angeles police said a 4-year-old girl was found unresponsive inside a parked vehicle in Valley Village on Tuesday afternoon, and investigators were still working Wednesday to determine how long she had been inside. Officers and firefighters responded around 3:40 p.m. near Bluebell Avenue and McCormick Street, according to local television reports citing the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles Fire Department. The child was pronounced dead at the scene. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner identified her as Adina Nevo. LAPD Capt. Warner Castillo told NBC Los Angeles that the department’s Abused Child Section was investigating a “possible homicide” as detectives worked to establish the circumstances of the death. Police had not announced any arrests as of Wednesday, and it was not clear whether charges would be filed. ### Where was the girl found? Valley Village is the Los Angeles neighborhood where officers found the child inside a vehicle parked in a residential area near McCormick Street and Bluebell Avenue on May 19. FOX 11 Los Angeles reported that the vehicle was locked when the girl was discovered, citing police information. KTLA reported that investigators cordoned off the street and covered the vehicle with a white tent while detectives went door to door and sought surveillance footage from neighbors. The station said investigators were also seen entering a nearby home. ### How did police describe the case? Capt. Warner Castillo said the LAPD was treating the case as a child death investigation and that the Abused Child Section had taken over, according to NBC Los Angeles. Castillo said the inquiry was being handled as a “possible homicide,” a term police often use at the start of suspicious-death investigations before prosecutors decide whether any crime occurred. Wednesday reports from ABC7 Los Angeles said detectives were continuing to interview witnesses and piece together a timeline. Police did not publicly say how many adults had access to the vehicle or who was responsible for transporting the child that day. ### What is known about how she ended up in the car? KTLA reported, citing neighbors and attorney Lou Shapiro, that the girl had apparently been riding in a neighborhood carpool and was supposed to be dropped off at daycare or school. Shapiro told KTLA he had been called to the scene by the wife of the vehicle’s driver and said the driver was not the child’s parent. Lou Shapiro, speaking to several local outlets, said he did not know whether his client would be arrested. NBC Los Angeles quoted him as saying, “It’s just very sad. No one should ever go through something like this.” ### What do officials still not know? Police said Wednesday it remained unclear how long Adina Nevo had been inside the vehicle. FOX 11 reported that the cause of death was still under investigation, and the medical examiner had not publicly released a final ruling on cause and manner of death. ABC7 Los Angeles reported that temperatures in the San Fernando Valley reached the upper 80s on Tuesday. UPI, citing safety group Kids and Car Safety, said the death was the third U.S. child hot-car fatality reported this year. ### What happens next in the investigation? The Los Angeles Police Department said detectives were continuing interviews and reviewing evidence gathered from the Valley Village neighborhood. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner is expected to determine the official cause and manner of death in a later finding. As of Wednesday night, police had not named a suspect or announced charges. Any next public update is likely to come from the LAPD or the medical examiner as the investigation moves forward.