5-Year-Old Arizona Boy Dies in Blistering Hot Car on 106-Degree Day
5-Year-Old Arizona Boy Dies in Car During Brutal Heat
Published
A 5-year-old Arizona boy died after being left inside a scorching hot car for hours while his family hosted a huge gathering ... and now his parents are facing serious charges.
Theo Sabo was found unresponsive Sunday afternoon inside a vehicle outside his family's Peoria home ... where temperatures climbed to around 106 degrees.
Police say the family had returned home from another child's baptism around 1 PM and was hosting a party with dozens of friends and relatives ... but Theo apparently never made it inside.
More than two-and-a-half hours later, the family realized he was missing and found him in the vehicle. Relatives performed CPR before first responders rushed him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Theo's parents, Mihail Sabo and Anca Sabo, were arrested and charged with negligent homicide and child abuse -- they have four other children aged 18, 15, 14, and 9.
Here's where things get even messier ... Mihail allegedly told investigators he had asked the couple's 14-year-old son to get Theo out of the car ... but the teen told authorities he did not remember being asked to do that.
The family's attorney is calling Theo's death a heartbreaking accident, arguing there was a tragic miscommunication and the parents should not be treated like criminals.
Both parents were each held on a $150,000 bond and barred from contacting each other ... though they can have supervised visits with their other children.
