A 36-year-old Nigerian woman, Gbemisola Akayinode, has been arrested and charged with felony murder in Texas after her 9-year-old daughter, Oluwasikemi, died from heat exposure inside a parked car.
The Harris County Sheriff, Ed Gonzalez, confirmed the arrest in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on October 17, saying the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences ruled the death a homicide caused by hyperthermia.
“Arrest update: HCSO Homicide Detectives and our Violent Criminal Apprehension Team arrested Gbemisola G. Akayinode for the murder of her nine-year-old daughter, Oluwasikemi Akayinode,” Gonzalez wrote. “She is being charged with felony murder and booked into the Harris County Jail.”
According to the sheriff’s office, detectives responded to a distress call on July 1 at an industrial complex on Mayo Shell Road in Galena Park, near Houston, where a 9-year-old girl was found unresponsive inside a vehicle.
Reports said the child was rushed to Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Court documents cited by ABC News revealed that Oluwasikemi had been left inside the car for more than eight hours* on a 99°F (37°C) day while her mother worked at a nearby manufacturing plant.
Investigations showed that Akayinode arrived at work around 5:45 a.m., leaving her daughter in the car with food, a rechargeable fan, ice cubes, and water. She also reportedly gave the child melatonin to help her sleep.
When she returned to the vehicle around 1:53 p.m., Akayinode found her daughter unresponsive and blue, prompting her to raise an alarm for help.
The mother told investigators she had brought her daughter to work several times before because she couldn’t afford daycare. However, court records indicated her supervisor had been paying for her daycare.
Local outlet KHOU11 reported that Akayinode initially blamed her daughter’s death on prescription medicine for ADHD but later admitted giving her melatonin the night before and that morning.
The Daily Mail also noted that Akayinode had left a shade up in the car’s front window, making it difficult for anyone to see inside, while the intense Texas heat built up in the vehicle.
Oluwasikemi’s death was one of four child fatalities linked to hot cars in Texas within the first two weeks of July, highlighting the recurring tragedy of heat-related child deaths in the state.