US-Based Nigerian Woman Charged With Murder After Daughter Dies In Hot Car

A 36-year-old Nigerian woman living in Texas, Gbemisola Akayinode, has been arrested and charged with felony murder following the death of her nine-year-old daughter, Oluwasikemi, who was left inside a parked car for several hours in extreme heat.

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the arrest, with Sheriff Ed Gonzalez disclosing that the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences ruled the child’s death a homicide caused by hyperthermia, severe overheating of the body.

“Today, our Homicide Detectives and Violent Criminal Apprehension Team arrested Gbemisola G. Akayinode for the murder of her nine year-old daughter,” Sheriff Gonzalez announced on X (formerly Twitter). “The child’s death has been ruled a homicide as a result of hyperthermia.

She is charged with felony murder and booked into the Harris County Jail.”

According to court filings, emergency responders were called to an industrial complex on Mayo Shell Road in Galena Park, near Houston, on July 1, after reports that a child had been left unattended inside a vehicle.

The girl was rushed to Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Investigators say Akayinode arrived at work around 5:45 a.m., leaving her daughter in the car with food, bottled water, a rechargeable fan, and ice cubes.

She reportedly gave the child melatonin to help her sleep and lowered the rear windows halfway before heading to her job at a nearby manufacturing plant. When Akayinode returned to her car at about 1:53 p.m., she found her daughter unresponsive and called for help. Paramedics attempted CPR, but the girl was later confirmed dead.