DANE FUELLING & STEVE ROUSE
WZBD.com
The Adams County Prosecutor’s Office has filed charges to two parents from Adams County in the death of their two-year-old child in Berne on Wednesday.
Jace M. Hirschy, the 23-year-old father, called the authorities requesting medical assistance after the child was found dead in a closet.
The child, according to police, was left in a closed closet and left unattended in close proximity to a space heater, which raised the temperature of the small space to over 100 degrees.
The child was found in a crib in a closet in the apartment, with the closet door nearly closed and a space heater turned on since the previous evening.
Temperature readings taken in the closet and on the child’s body were all over 100 degrees, indicating the child had been exposed to extreme heat.
The autopsy determined the child’s cause of death was hyperthermia, or overheating of the body, due to the extended exposure to the extreme heat.
Two other children in the home were removed by DCS to protect their health and safety.
For more information, listen to our full report here:
