Tragedy in Stuart

This story made my wife cry.

STUART — The mother of a 21-month-old boy who died after being left in her closed truck Thursday has been charged with aggravated manslaughter in the child's death, Stuart police said today.

Nellier Viana Lima was held at the Martin County jail without bail after the arrest late Thursday night.

Her son, Harold, was found dead in his car seat after she forgot to drop him off at day care.

Lima told detectives she was out of her normal routine with the start of the new school year for her 6-year-old daughter and forgot the boy was there until she went to unload groceries into the truck when she finished work and shopping Thursday afternoon.


The baby was sound asleep at about 8 a.m., when she would normally drop him off at day care. She decided to drop off her daughter at Port Salerno Elementary first.

With the hubbub of the second day of school, she apparently forgot she had missed the first step of her morning routine and went to her first cleaning job, police said.

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The temperature in Stuart on Thursday reached 91, but it felt like 106, according to to David Smith, coordinator of SKYWARN weather spotters. It was certainly much hotter than that inside the closed black truck, with some reports indicating the temperature in a closed vehicle in 85-degree weather can reach 120 degrees in less than 30 minutes.

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An autopsy will determine how and when the boy died. Prosecutors were called to the scene, but there were no charges Thursday.

Why would someone in a non-murder case be held without bail? Channel 12 supplies the answer.

Detectives wanted to release the mother from questioning to go home and greive, but police say the Lima family could provide no identification or documentation, and the mother may be a flight risk.

This case is a tragedy. The mother is going to have to live with what she did the rest of her life. A criminal sentence while justified would seem redundant.

I just can't fathom how a parent can ever forget a child. As the Post reported, these kinds of child deaths are becoming more common. Dear wife was on the verge of tears when we heard this on last night's evening news. While what happened wasn't our fault, our son Daniel's short life will never be forgotten by either of us.

Therefore the reason neither dear wife or myself can understand how any parent can forget their baby.

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