WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – A 74-year-old grandmother has been accused of killing her 17-month-old granddaughter, according to the Winter Haven Police Department.
In a release, police said the “heartbreaking event” happened on March 31, when the toddler was in a car seat in the back seat of her grandmother’s car after she was picked up along with a family member in Lake Wales.
At the time, the family member had been babysitting the young girl while her mother was working in Winter Haven, the release shows.
“The family member placed the child in the back seat, securing the car seat, then entering the front seat,” the release reads. “On the trip from Lake Wales to Winter Haven, where the family member was dropped off at work, the child had fallen asleep.”
But the grandmother — identified as Karen Denise Benyard, 74 — drove the girl to her home along Avenue N. SW, where she parked the vehicle shortly after 2 p.m. and went inside, unknowingly leaving the girl in the car, police said.
Benyard took a nap and woke up around 3:46 p.m., heading out to pick up the child’s mother from work, police said.
According to investigators, that’s when Benyard found her granddaugther unresponsive in the back seat. First responders headed to the scene and transported the girl to the hospital, though she ultimately died.
“Overwhelmed with grief, Benyard was admitted to the hospital for treatment and was discharged several days later,” the release continues.
Investigators determined that Benyard didn’t have alcohol or narcotics in her system at the time, and an autopsy revealed the cause of death was hyperthermia due to environmental exposure.
As such, Benyard was taken into custody on Wednesday and now faces a charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child, police announced.
“This is an absolutely heartbreaking case where there is no closure for the family,” Winter Haven Police Chief Vance Monroe, Jr., said. “Our entire department shares the heavy grief of this devastating tragedy.”
Under state law, it is illegal to leave a child under 7 years of age unattended or unsupervised in a car for over 15 minutes — or for any length of time if the car engine is running, the child is in distress, or their health is in danger.
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