Fla. Dad Who Left Toddler in Hot Car to Die Went Back to Vehicle to Retrieve Cigarettes But Didn't Notice Girl

Mar. 15, 2025

Joel Rondon; Jazmine Rondon.Photo:Polk County Sheriff’s Office (2)

Polk County Sheriff’s Office (2)

A Florida dad has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after he and his wife left their 18-month-old daughter in the backseat of a sweltering car after a Fourth of July party in 2023.

In August, Joel Rondon, 33, of Lakeland, pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter of a child, a first-degree felony, online court records show. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison with credit for time served.

His wife Jazmine Rondon, 33, of Lakeland, was also charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child. She pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to return to court in December when a decision will be made on whether she will go to trial,Fox 13 Newsreports.

“One of the most impressive facts of this case is that you decided to go back to the vehicle to retrieve your cigarettes, and you didn’t notice your child there,” Judge Jalal Harb told Joel at the sentencing hearing, Fox13 News reports.

At a press conference in July 2023, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd called the incident “one of the most horrible, tragic deaths that we have seen in a long time. And it was all because of negligence and drug use.”

Jazmine Rondon being taken into custody in 2023.Polk Sheriff/Youtube

Polk Sheriff/Youtube

On July 4, 2023, the couple went to a Fourth of July party in Lakeland with their three children, who were 8, 6 and 18-months old, Judd said.

They left the party at 2 a.m., he said. When they arrived home, Jazmine took the two older children into the house, fed them, put them to bed and then went to sleep herself, he said.

Joel proceeded to take some trays of food into the house and noticed that the right rear door of their Hyundai Elantra was open, Judd said.

When he came back outside, he saw that the door was closed. “He thought Jazmine must have gotten the child so he went inside,” Judd said.

“Neither husband nor wife asked each other if they had brought the victim inside,” Judd said in anews release.

The couple rushed the toddler to a local hospital.

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The toddler was declared dead at 2:42 p.m., with an internal body temperature of 104.4 degrees, the sheriff said in the release. “This rips your heart out,” he said.

Police launched an investigation. The couple tested positive for alcohol and drugs, Judd alleged.

An autopsy determined that the victim’s cause of death was hyperthermia due to being left in a hot car, and the manner of death was homicide. Joel and Jazmine were taken into custody on July 6, 2023, and booked into the Polk County Jail.

The couple’s attorneys did not respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

source: people.com