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Brittany Nicolle L\u00e1inez Lopez is pictured on a GoFundMe page that was set up to raise money to help pay for her funeral expenses. She died on Sunday, July 5, 2026, after being left inside a hot car in Hallandale Beach.<\/p>\n
GoFundMe<\/p>\n
The 2-year-old girl who died Sunday after being left in a hot car in Hallandale Beach<\/a> was in the vehicle for more than three hours before anyone noticed, her family said.<\/p>\n Brittany Nicole L\u00e1inez Lopez was supposed to be in the care of a paid babysitter, but that woman instead had her father pick up the child from the girl\u2019s home, and he left her in the 2012 Honda Odyssey that he was driving from around 9 a.m. until almost 1 p.m., Brittany\u2019s mother, Ovilia Cristina Lopez Ramirez, told the Miami Herald on Thursday.<\/p>\n The car was parked outside a home in the 900 block of Northwest Seventh Avenue, police said. It\u2019s not clear if that\u2019s where the man lives.<\/p>\n The babysitter\u2019s father, Lopez Ramirez said, has mental-health issues, including memory loss. Lopez Ramirez, who was working at a restaurant that day, did not name the babysitter or her father, nor have police.<\/p>\n Friends set up a GoFundMe account to raise money to pay for Brittany\u2019s funeral expenses<\/a> and asked for a thorough investigation into her death.<\/p>\n \u201cJustice has to be served for this baby, Cristina is a very hardworking and humble person, and due to someone else\u2019s carelessness, she lost her only babygirl,\u201d the statement reads.<\/p>\n Police said in a statement Thursday that Brittany was driven from the home on Northwest Seventh Avenue to a hospital \u201cby the parties involved,\u201d where medical staff declared her dead.<\/p>\n According to emergency radio dispatch communications from that day, the hospital was Joe DiMaggio Children\u2019s Hospital in Hollywood, and police were urgently trying to find the people who transported Brittany.<\/p>\n Police said in their statement that officers arrived at the hospital at 1:35 p.m. and notified Lopez Ramirez \u201cas soon as the necessary steps were completed.\u201d According to the GoFundMe statement, police arrived at her place of work to tell her at 2:45 p.m.<\/p>\n Detectives are waiting for the Broward Medical Examiner\u2019s Office\u2019s final report before going to the Broward State Attorney\u2019s Office to determine \u201cwhether criminal charges are appropriate,\u201d Hallandale police said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Medical Examiner\u2019s Office has since released the child\u2019s remains to the family\u2019s designated funeral home, allowing funeral arrangements and visitation to proceed,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n Hallandale Police Chief Michel Michel said in a statement that the tragedy is a reminder to always make sure to check if children are out of vehicles after parking.<\/p>\n \u201cThis tragedy has touched our entire community. While nothing can undo the pain this family is experiencing, our hearts remain with the child\u2019s family,\u201d Michel said. \u201cWe hope this child\u2019s story inspires every caregiver to adopt one simple habit: always check the back seat before leaving your vehicle. Taking one extra moment could prevent another family from experiencing this unimaginable loss.\u201d<\/p>\n Temperatures reached 90 degrees in Hallandale Beach on Sunday, with heat indexes reaching near 100 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. According to the nonprofit Kids and Car Safety<\/a>, on the types of hot, sunny days frequently experienced in South Florida, parked vehicles trap heat, causing the interior to soar above 120 degrees.<\/p>\n At least 31 children died in hot cars in 2025, according to the National Safety Council and nine have died this year. On average, 37 children younger than 15 years old die of heatstroke yearly after being left in hot cars.<\/p>\n
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