{"id":3763,"date":"2026-07-17T10:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T10:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=3763"},"modified":"2026-07-17T10:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T10:04:08","slug":"cause-of-death-pending-for-phoenix-toddler-found-in-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=3763","title":{"rendered":"Cause of death pending for Phoenix toddler found in car"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 A 2-year-old boy died at a hospital after his parents found him in a vehicle in the Mountain Trails neighborhood Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

Read more Northern Arizona town employee investigated over election activity<\/a><\/p>\n

Police identified the child as Marcelino Valdez and said they do not suspect foul play. The cause of death remains under investigation.<\/p>\n

Valdez was found in critical condition. Life-saving measures were performed, but he did not survive. <\/p>\n

Police said the child was reportedly inside the home when officers arrived, and his parents discovered him in the car. It remains unclear how or why Valdez came to be in the vehicle.<\/p>\n

\u2018It breaks our heart because it doesn\u2019t have to happen\u2019<\/h2>\n

Janette Fennell, founder of Kids and Car Safety, said situations like this are not uncommon and that the incident is a reminder of the dangers children face when left in hot vehicles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, obviously, we\u2019re very heartbroken. You know, these types of incidents have been happening for so long,\u201d Fennell said.<\/p>\n

Fennell said Arizona currently ranks fourth in the country for child hot car deaths, with more than 50 deaths recorded since 1990. She said one of the most common factors is that parents simply forget a child is in the backseat \u2014 a risk that increases when a child is secured in a rear-facing seat out of the driver\u2019s line of sight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no warnings if children are left behind,\u201d Fennell said. \u201cIf you\u2019re a driver and you correctly restrain your child in a rear-facing seat behind you, you can\u2019t tell if there\u2019s a baby in there or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Monsoon\u2019s first dust storms put ASU\u2019s new rating scale to the test<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a serious issue in Arizona and around the country,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Temperatures can spike within minutes<\/h2>\n

Fennell said the danger inside a parked vehicle escalates quickly, particularly during periods of high heat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the first 10 minutes, that temperature can spike as much as 20 degrees, and then it just keeps going up and up from there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

What parents can do<\/h2>\n

Fennell said a simple habit can make a life-saving difference. She recommends that every driver open the back door each time they arrive at a destination.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime you arrive at a destination, just open the back door, doesn\u2019t cost a penny, maybe takes three seconds,\u201d Fennell said.<\/p>\n

Other precautions include placing a phone or diaper bag in the back seat as a reminder that a child is present, or making it a routine to check the back seat every time the vehicle is parked.<\/p>\n

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? <\/i>Please click here to report it<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send <\/i>it to us here<\/i> with a brief description.<\/i><\/p>\n

Read more Does Arizona have enough workers for TSMC\u2019s Phoenix expansion?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 2-year-old boy died at a hospital after his parents found him in a vehicle in the Mountain Trails neighborhood Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nCause of death pending for Phoenix toddler found in car - Tucson Moving Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=3763\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cause of death pending for Phoenix toddler found in car - Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A 2-year-old boy died at a hospital after his parents found him in a vehicle in the Mountain Trails neighborhood Wednesday evening.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=3763\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tucson Moving Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-17T10:04:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3763#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3763\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/71841c7d449e6ab1ace6bce2f5277255\"},\"headline\":\"Cause of death pending for Phoenix toddler found in car\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-17T10:04:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3763\"},\"wordCount\":490,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3763#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/38c85da51f26943d9b3987a3a559c257.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3763#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3763\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tucsonmovingreport.com\\\/?p=3763\",\"name\":\"Cause of death pending for Phoenix toddler found in car - 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