Utah Mother Charged With Homicide More Than 5 Years After Infant Had Internal Temperature of 109.8 Degrees Before His Death

[Sugar Cookie]

A woman has been charged with child abuse homicide more than 5 years after the death of her 6-month-old child, after he was in a car on a hot day for several hours.

Amy Bethers, 29, was charged with child abuse homicide, a first-degree felony. The charge has the reckless attribute, which means that the child abuse causing the death was done recklessly.

According to the charging documents, on August 13, 2019, police were called to Mountain View Hospital for the death of a 6-month-old. Officers spoke with the doctor, who said that the child arrived with his mother and that he believed the death was caused by being in a hot environment for too long. Shortly before his death, doctors recorded the child’s internal temperature at 109.8 degrees.

The mother, identified as Bethers, told police that her son was teething and had been fussy. She said that she took his temperature at 10 a.m., and it was 98.7 degrees. She said that she was driving to a storage unit in Santaquin with her son when she noticed that he was not as “wiggly and chattery” as usual, so she “rolled down the windows some more,” according to police.

She turned around to go home, but she started to notice that her son’s lips were turning purple, he was going stiff, and he was drooling, so she “hauled butt” to the hospital, she reportedly told police.

Her son was sitting next to her in the vehicle the whole day, and the car did not have air conditioning. She said that her son was only wearing a diaper because of how hot it was, and that they had been driving around for two and a half to three hours.

According to police, she also said, “It’s not like I left him at all or anything like that.”

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https://www.abc4.com/news/crimes-against-children/mother-charged-homicide-infant-death-hot-car/