Baby found dead inside vehicle at middle school identified

Investigators in central Florida say an infant who died last week after inadvertently being left all day in a vehicle outside a middle school was the relative of a teacher at the school.

Chanda Larson, a seventh-grade math teacher at the school since 2014, had been caring for her cousin, Trenton Cason-Collins, for about six weeks, according to sheriff’s spokesman Gary Davidson.

Larson arrived at work about 7:30 a.m. and went inside the building, leaving the baby strapped in the backseat of her SUV.

No arrests have been made and charges had not been filed Monday.

When she returned to the auto during dismissal at 3:54 p.m. and discovered the child, Larson placed a frantic 911 call saying, “Oh my God!”

A makeshift memorial of balloons, flowers and teddy bears continues to grow outside the school.

A teacher at a Deltona, Fla., school sobbed to police dispatchers after realizing she left a baby – that soon died – in a vehicle .

School-district officials took action to remove Larson from the classroom, with pay, pending the outcome of an investigation of the incident, according to Nancy Wait, a spokeswoman for Volusia County Schools. A school resource deputy rushed to the scene three minutes after the call came in, but it was too late. A bystander responded and attempted to resuscitate Trenton, but when the efforts failed, Trenton was placed on the back seat in the position he was found when deputies arrived.

Some students who approached the school principal will be holding a moment of silence Tuesday at the flagpole to recognize the baby, Wait said.

“There’s going to be negativity, people are skeptical”, Cason said.

“I couldn’t understand how they could leave a baby in a auto and not know”, said a local resident.

‘We appreciate the ones that are there for us’.

Sheriff Johnson told News 6 his investigators are having a hard time with the case, given the child’s age. “This is one of those days that you don’t like being the sheriff”.

“I came to give my son the teddy bear”, said Alycyia Cason, the boy’s mother. “He never cried. He was a good baby”.

Tuesday was the first day back to class following the tragedy that happened outside of their school Friday. “We will stand by the family with love and compassion”, Volusia County Schools said in a statement.