FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – The Florence County coroner’s office identified the 7-month-old who died after being left in a hot car.
Florence County Coroner Keith von Lutcken confirms the infant, identified as Dean Emerson Coward, of Florence, died from a potential heat-related incident from being left in a vehicle.
In a press release von Lutcken said an autopsy revealed that there were no signs of physical trauma. However he is waiting for the results of additional tests to determine the exact cause of death, but the case is being treated as a heat related death.
The Florence County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the infant’s death, and Chief Deputy Glenn Kirby says the father of the child was taken into custody.
The child’s father is 36-year-old Brandon Scott Coward, according to Major Mike Nunn with the FCSO. Coward has been charged with homicide by child abuse.
According to a press release from the FCSO, investigators allege Coward “left the infant in a hot vehicle for an extended length of time.” He is being held at the Florence County Detention Center pending a bond hearing before a circuit court judge.
The coroner confirms deputies were called to Via Ponticello Road in Florence at 5:38 p.m. Thursday for an unresponsive child. The infant was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
“The investigation is still in the early stages, but [the] incident is being investigated at this time as a potential heat-related incident from being left in a vehicle,” states von Lutcken.
