Delaware County deputy won’t face charges in daughter’s hot car death

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Special prosecutors have declined to file criminal charges against a Delaware County sheriff’s deputy whose 10-year-old daughter with special needs died after he left her inside his truck on a summer day.

I-Team is not naming the deputy because he was not criminally charged and he was off duty at the time of the incident, which happened on Aug. 14, 2025.

The girl died of vehicular hyperthermia, or heatstroke. 

On Aug. 14, the outside temperature was 85 degrees, and the temperature inside the vehicle would have reached 132 degrees after several hours, records show.

According to a report to the court, the deputy called 911 at 6:44 p.m. to report he had accidentally left his daughter in his truck.

“She has rigor already. I messed up,” the deputy told the 911 operator.

The girl had been diagnosed with a syndrome that limited her ability to speak, walk, and move.

The deputy picked the 10-year-old girl up from school at 2:30 p.m., and once inside the house, his two-year-old daughter was “throwing a fit.” 

The deputy then became preoccupied with quieting the toddler, according to the report to the court.

He said he then lay down with the toddler to nap and then woke up around 6 p.m.

The deputy went out to his truck to get a bow so that he could practice-shoot, and that’s when he found his 10-year-old daughter unresponsive inside the truck, records show.

When Delaware County Sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene, the deputy said “I messed up” and put his hands behind his back, according to the report to the court.

The special prosecutors, Chris Gaal and James Luttrull, declined to prosecute the deputy and outlined the following determinations:

• The deputy was not on duty at the time of the incident.
• There is no evidence he left his daughter in the vehicle on purpose.
• The deputy did not make any excuse for his lapse of memory.
• Numerous events may have contributed to the deputy’s mental state, including a recent death in the family.

“The credible and admissible evidence is not sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a criminal offense has occurred,” read the report.

The deputy was placed on paid administrative leave on or about Aug. 14, 2025, and returned to work on or about Jan. 15.

I-Team contacted the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office to see if the deputy had any comment or statement on the special prosecutor’s findings, but a spokesperson said he did not have a public statement.

On average, 38 children die in hot cars every year in the United States.

Seventeen children have died in hot cars in Indiana since 1990, records show.

Marah Crapo, 20 months, died in Hendricks County in August 2019 after her parents took a nap after church. The Crapos were never criminally charged.

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