Baby found dead in car parked at downtown Lufkin business; police say she was there 'a good part of the day'

Posted: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 3:52 pm | Updated: 4:55 pm, Tue Aug 24, 2010.

By MELISSA HAYES/The Lufkin Daily News

A 4-month-old girl was found dead in a car parked outside Story-Wright Printing and Office Supply in downtown Lufkin Tuesday afternoon. The baby had been left in the car for a “good part of the day,” according to Lufkin Police Department spokesman Det. JB Smith.

City Hall officials heard screaming outside their window and saw a commotion when they looked outside around 3 p.m. The business is directly across the street from City Hall and the Lufkin Police Department.

The baby had been discovered by a “caregiver” and was rushed inside the store, but the girl had already died, Smith said. Judge Billy Ball pronounced her dead at the scene.

Crime scene tape marked off the South Third Street side of the building as police investigators took photographs and evidence from the Nissan Armada in which the girl had been left. A sticker representing the members of the family was displayed in the back window of the vehicle.

“Looking at the car with the family sticker on the back, it doesn’t seem that this was done with any malicious intent,” Smith said. “It looks like an accident.”

No criminal charges have been filed, but Smith said officers investigated the scene for any possible evidence of violence.

“It does not look like malicious intent, but we will continue to investigate to figure it all out,” Smith said. “We work every case as if it were criminal so we don’t miss anything. We would hate for a situation to look harmless and end up being criminal.”

The child’s caregiver had some sort of connection with the Story-Wright business at 222 Shepherd Ave., Smith said.

As with any child death, the body will be sent for an autopsy, Smith said.

Melissa Hayes’ e-mail address is mhayes@lufkindailynews.com.