Wednesday, July 9, 2025 - A one-year-old boy di£d after his mother allegedly left him trapped in a hot car for hours while she went for cosmetic treatment.
Maya Hernandez, 20, is accused of leaving her son, Amillio
Gutierrez, and his two-year-old brother fastened to their car seats in her
Toyota Corolla hybrid outside the Always Beautiful Med Spa in
Bakersfield, California, while she went for lip filler.
Amillio was foaming at the mouth, convulsing and
unresponsive, and had a body temperature of 107°F (41.7°C) when Hernandez
returned to her car around 4.30pm on June 29. A normal temperature is around
99°F/37°C.
He was declared de@d at hospital just before 6pm and his
brother survived
His grandmother, Katie Martinez, wrote on GoFundMe:
"When his mom left him and his 2-year-old brother alone in her car,
Amillio was so special; he always had a smile no matter what.
"He is loved by so many, our lives will not be the
same.
"His brother will forever be without his best
friend."
Hernandez told police that she left the air conditioning and
car on while going in for the cosmetic procedure, according to arrest documents
obtained by KFSN.
But investigators said her car was warm and that it had a
feature to automatically turn the engine off after an hour.
The two boys are believed to have been trapped inside without air conditioning for at least an hour and a half.
Katie said: "They were strapped in their car seats.
They couldn’t even get up to save themselves.
"She literally locked them in their car seats and shut
their doors."
Katie was also shocked at Hernandez’s actions.
"She wasn’t like that. She was a really loving
mom," the grandma said. "Those boys loved her. They really loved her
and they relied on her."
A nurse at the spa told officers that Hernandez asked if she
could bring her kids with her as she got the procedure done, and did not say
that they were in the car when she arrived. The lip filler appointment
apparently only took 15 to 20 minutes.
Hernandez has since been charged with involuntary manslaughter and child cruelty, and is being held at on a more than $1million bail. She is slated to appear for a preliminary hearing in court on Friday, July 11.
A vigil for Amillio was held at a park on Saturday, July 5.
The GoFundMe page to bring his body home to Porterville and
hold a celebration of life for him had raised $174 as of Tuesday evening, July
8.
"He just started walking on Thursday, and on Sunday, he
gained his angel wings. I will never be the same without him," Katie
wrote.
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