In an act of carelessness, a 3-year-old boy has lost his life after he was left unattended in a hot car for five hours. The gross negligence on part of the Department of Human Resource (DHR) worker has led to a family grieving with unparalleled loss. As per the family’s attorney, Courtney French, the police received a 911 call on the evening of July 22 reporting that a child had been found unresponsive in a car parked at a worker’s residence in Birmingham, Alabama.
3-year-old Ke’Torrius Starks Jr. was in the temporary custody of DHR and lived in a foster home. Courtney French told ABC 3340 that the child had been picked up from daycare at 9 am for a supervised visit with his biological father which ended at 11:30 am. Meanwhile, when the foster parent went to pick up the child from the daycare, he wasn’t there, told the kid’s aunt Brittney Debruce.
A 3-year-old boy died in a hot car after being left inside for over five hours by a Department of Human Resources contract worker, who took him from his parents after they were deemed ‘unfit.’ 😳💔🕊️🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/kuO5iHAc8V
— Rain Drops Media (@Raindropsmedia1) July 24, 2025
“A child in DHR custody was being transported by a contract provider when the incident occurred,” a spokesperson for Alabama DHR told Al.com, while further adding, “The provider has terminated their employee. Due to confidentiality, DHR cannot comment further regarding the identity of the child or the exact circumstances.”
The attorney has alleged that instead of returning the kid to the daycare, the worker, employed through The Covenant Services, Inc, decided to run some errands while leaving the kid in her car. The worker stopped to pick up food for her family and allegedly even shopped at a tobacco store.
🚨 This is so incredibly sad. 3-year-old Ke’Torrius “KJ” Starkes Jr. died after being left in a hot car for 5 hours
➡️ He was in state custody
➡️ A DHR contractor was supposed to take him to daycare
➡️ They forgot him and he died alone, strapped in a car seat
➡️ His father had… pic.twitter.com/JwWc9f3ZGK— The Undercurrent (@NotTheirScript) July 24, 2025
The employee then reportedly returned to her home, leaving the kid unattended in her car for five hours, from 12:30 pm to 5:30 pm local time. On the day of the incident, the heat index was in the triple digits. Birmingham police found the boy unresponsive, and fastened in his car seat. The car was parked in the driveway of a private residence in the 1500 block of Pine Tree Drive in Birmingham. Reportedly, the vehicle wasn’t running and the windows were rolled up. The boy was pronounced dead on the scene at 6:03 pm local time.
“A heartbreaking and preventable tragedy. Based upon a preliminary investigation, with the current extreme outside temperatures and the heat index of 108 degrees, the interior temperature of the car where KJ was trapped likely exceeded 150 degrees,” the family’s attorney told ABC 3340.
In 2025, Ke’Torrius was the first hot car death in Alabama. Meanwhile, nationwide, at least 16 children have lost their lives in a hot vehicle this year, as per a report by Kids and Car Safety.
In a statement issued via their attorney, the grieving family said, “This is a parent’s worst nightmare. Our baby should be alive.”
This is a developing story and further details of the case are awaited.
