The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office in Mississippi is investigating the death of 3-year-old Cheyenne Hyer, whose mother, Cassie Barker, has been placed on administrative leave after little Cheyenne died after being left alone for hours in a patrol car.
According to investigators, Barker left the little girl in the car with the air conditioning running on Friday while she visited the home of another officer, Clark Ladner.
The official cause of death has not yet been released, but investigators believe it’s likely that Cheyenne overheated after being left in the car for around four hours, despite the fact that the air conditioning was running.
“The autopsy was done this morning and we haven’t got the results yet,” Hancock County Sheriff Ricky Adam said. “We are looking into some possible previous allegations. It is an active investigation. It hasn’t been determined which way we will go, but it doesn’t look good. We’ll see which way the evidence takes us.”
While the results of the autopsy are expected to be released later this week, Long Beach Police Department Chief Wayne McDowell has said that the matter is an “internal matter with his officers.”