Dallas woman charged with murder in Frisco hot-car death

A Dallas woman has been charged with murder after police say she intentionally left her 15-month-old child unattended in a hot car in Frisco on August 16, resulting in the child’s death. Frisco police said the child was discovered after the mother arrived at work and the vehicle’s interior reached dangerous temperatures.

According to a Frisco Police Department statement, 27-year-old Vanessa Esquivel arrived at her workplace on the 3200 block of Preston Road at about 2 p.m. on August 16 and left the child inside a vehicle for more than two hours. Investigators say Esquivel knew the vehicle did not have working air conditioning and that the outside temperature was at least 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The child later died; officials have not released the child’s name or gender.

Police were alerted after hospital staff at Medical City Plano reported a child’s death, and officers subsequently opened an investigation that led detectives to determine the vehicle exposure likely occurred earlier that day in Frisco. A Frisco spokesperson said detectives believed probable cause existed that Esquivel committed murder because her intentional act endangered the child, a felony, and that the...