“It was at that moment that they were swept away by the current, and the friend managed to get out.”
A 3-year-old boy was pronounced dead after spending more than five hours in a hot car with the windows rolled up.
The boy, Ketorrius “KJ” Starkes Jr., was dropped off at daycare by his foster family on July 22. He was later picked up by a worker affiliated with the Department of Human Resources at 9 a.m., per AL.com.
The DHR-affiliated transporter then took KJ to his biological father’s house for a supervised visit.
RELATED: Police officers rescue baby from hot car as summer heat continues to rise
The visit lasted approximately two and a half hours, at which point the driver — who was employed by The Covenant Services, per AL.com — was to return KJ to daycare.
But when his foster parent arrived at daycare to pick KJ up, the little boy wasn’t there.
Instead, reports say the DHR-affiliated driver picked up food for her family and shopped at a tobacco store before returning to her home, according to KJ’s family attorney Courtney French, who spoke with AL.com.
KJ was then left in the driver’s parked car with the windows rolled up for more than five hours, Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates told AL.com.
According to ABC 3340, a 911 call was placed at around 6:40 p.m. after “a child had been found unresponsive in a vehicle parked at a worker’s residence.”
KJ was fastened in his car seat when officers arrived. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Yates.
"A child in DHR custody was being transported by a contract provider when the incident occurred," a spokesperson for Alabama DHR said in a statement, per WVTM 13.
"The provider has terminated their employee. Due to confidentiality, DHR cannot comment further regarding the identity of the child or the exact circumstances,” the statement continued.
The temperature inside the hot car ‘likely exceeded 150 degrees’
KJ’s death is currently being investigated by Birmingham police, according to AL.com.
In a statement shared by ABC 3340, French confirmed that a preliminary investigation found that “the interior temperature of the car where KJ was trapped likely exceeded 150 degrees.”
According to People, July 22 was a “First Warning Impact Day,” meaning residents were warned that weather conditions were expected to significantly disrupt daily routines and pose potential hazards.
The heat index was as high as 108 degrees when the child was in the vehicle, according to French — who described the incident as “a heartbreaking and preventable tragedy.”
"This is a parent's worst nightmare. Our baby should be alive,” KJ’s parents expressed in a statement shared by French, per ABC 3340.
According to Kids and Car Safety, KJ’s death is the first reported hot car death in Alabama this year.
There have been at least 16 such deaths across the United States in 2025, including four that occurred in the month of July and eight in June, when temperatures across the country started rising.
ALSO ON MOD MOMS CLUB: Teddi Mellencamp was home with estranged husband, kids when intruders tried to break in
“Since 1990, at least 1,141 children have died in hot cars in the United States and at least another 7,500 survived with varying degrees of injury,” according to Kids and Car Safety.
