Anaheim mother arrested after death of her 3-year-old daughter who was locked in hot car

ANAHEIM, Calif. (KABC) — Police arrested an Anaheim woman whose 3-year-old daughter died after she was found unconscious in a hot car, officials said.

Sandra Hernandez, 41 was booked on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter and child neglect after she was released from a hospital, Anaheim police Sgt. Matt Sutter said.

Anaheim police and fire department personnel responded Friday around 4:20 p.m. to a medical emergency in the 1300 block of North Fashion Lane.

Hernandez and her daughter had been inside a Ford Expedition for an unknown amount of time, police said. A family member who found them locked in while temperatures were about 104 degrees managed to get the girl out of the car, police said.

Anaheim police Sgt. Matt Sutter said several alcohol bottles were found inside the vehicle.

Paramedics rushed the girl to the hospital where she later died.

The girl’s preliminary cause of death was listed as complications related to heat stroke, according to the Anaheim Police Department. An official autopsy report has not been completed.

Hernandez was arrested after she was interviewed by police and medically cleared at the hospital.

Family members identified the girl as Ily Ruiz. The girl’s father, Juan Ruiz, is heartbroken over her death.

“Ily was his princess, his daughter. He loves his kids. That’s what he lives for,” Ruiz’s cousin Nancy Salamanca told Eyewitness News.

Unfortunately, the pain of losing a child is something Ily’s parents have experienced.

In 2012, Ruiz older sons – 5-year-old Alaries and 9-year-old Cyris – were killed after a drunk driver ran over their tent during a camping trip in North Dakota.

“To know that he’s reliving this all over again, we’re just hurting for him,” Salamanca said. “He’s broken. He’s just devastated.”

“He has one thing – one thing left for himself and that’s his son Lazarus,” Salamanca’s husband Waleed Salimi said. “So he’s going to fight hard for his son, as we’re here to support him as a family.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family.