3-year-old dead after left in hot car as mother tended to pot grow, California police say

A 3-year-old is dead after her mother left her in a car for three hours amid triple-digit heat Thursday afternoon while the woman tended a pot grow, Visalia police say.

The 28-year-old mother, Eustajia Dominguez Mojica, was arrested and booked into Tulare County jail on charges of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment, police said in a news release.

Just before 6 p.m. officers responded to a call of a 3-year-old, later identified as Jessica Campos, who was not breathing after being left in a parked vehicle for an extended length of time on the 100 block of Perez Avenue in Visalia.

An officer who was on an unrelated call nearby arrived and took over CPR from family members who were trying to revive the child.

Campos was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.

According to police, Campos was left in the vehicle for up to three hours before anyone discovered her. The outdoor temperature Thursday in Visalia reached 101 degrees at the time of the incident, according to National Weather Service records.

Investigators said Jessica’s mother, Mojica, had been tending to a marijuana grow and processing marijuana during the time the child was left inside the vehicle.

Four other adults were also inside the home, believed to be helping Dominguez Mojica. Araceli Mojica, 33, Emmanuel Ortiz-Aguilar, 34, Valentin Aguilar Ortiz, 27, and Victor Flores Corona, 41 are also facing child endangerment charges.

This story was originally published June 4, 2021 at 3:54 PM.