An Alabama social worker who left a three-year-old in a roasting car for five hours has been charged in connection with his death – and is already out of jail on bail.
Kela Stanford, 54, was taken into custody on Friday after a toddler in her care, KeTorrius Starkes Jr., was found unresponsive in a vehicle parked outside her Birmingham home on July 22.
KeTorrius, nicknamed KJ, was in his fastened car seat in the vehicle, which was off and had the windows rolled up. He was declared dead 30 minutes after he was found.
The temperature inside the car likely exceeded 150 degrees, according to his family.
Before his tragic death, Stanford, a Department of Human Resources contract worker, had taken him to a supervised visit with his father, KeTorrius Starkes Sr.
She was supposed to take KJ, who was in temporary foster care, to daycare after the visit – but the little boy never made it.