Two Tennessee children died in hot vehicles within days of each other this month, investigations that together mark the state’s third pediatric hot car death of 2026 and its 19th such fatality recorded nationwide this year. One case involves a nonverbal 6-year-old left for hours aboard a daycare bus outside Memphis. The other involves a 3-year-old boy who wandered from his Cheatham County home and became trapped inside a broken-down van on his family’s property.
In Cordova, 6-year-old Winter Skyy Jones, a nonverbal autistic girl, died after being left on a Kid University daycare bus, where her body temperature reached approximately 109 degrees before she was discovered around 3:20 p.m. on Thursday, according to the Daily Memphian. Her death has prompted investigations by Memphis Police and the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, the outlet reported.
Two days earlier, on August 11, investigators believe a 3-year-old boy in Pegram, in Cheatham County, left his house during naptime, entered a broken-down van on the family’s property, and could not get himself back out, according to KIRO 7 News. The boy had gone missing around 4 p.m. and was later found unresponsive inside the vehicle.
A Statewide Pattern Amid Extreme Heat
Both deaths occurred as Tennessee was under a heat advisory, according to News Channel 5 Nashville, whose reporter Megan Scarano detailed the two ongoing investigations and the broader danger they represent for parents and caregivers. The station’s report notes that this marks the third hot car death in Tennessee so far in 2026 and the 19th nationwide, citing data from the nonprofit Kids and Car Safety…