Overview
- Plantation police and fire crews responded to a report and pronounced the child dead after finding the boy inside a black SUV in the parking lot of A World of Discovery Academy on Monday.
- The preschool owner said she and the child's father discovered the 23-month-old in the back seat and that the father had not dropped the child off at school earlier.
- Detectives treated the lot as a crime scene, collected evidence, erected a tent around the vehicle and had the medical examiner examine the SUV during the ongoing inquiry.
- Officials have not released a cause of death or indicated whether any criminal charges will be filed, and investigators continue to review the circumstances.
- Local parents and staff expressed grief and the owner urged caregivers to check back seats, a warning consistent with national data that many vehicle-related child deaths occur when children are unknowingly left in cars.