Yet another young child has died after being left in a hot car for an extended period of time. A toddler in Virginia was left in a car for more than an entire work day. The boy’s guardian, Brian Dalton, has been arrested and charged. Hot car deaths seem more common in summer as temperatures rise. The boy’s death is a reminder of how important it is for caregivers to check their cars when driving with young kids.
Around 3:42 p.m. on Thursday, July 31, 2025, the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office was called to a report of an unresponsive child, WSET reported. Staff at the Chestnut Academy day care were administering life-saving CPR measures until deputies and medics arrived.
Hudley Owen Hamlett, a nearly 2-year-old boy, was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 4:40 p.m. He died two days before his second birthday.
The boy was supposed to be dropped off at Chestnut Academy that morning by his foster dad Brian Dalton. However, Dalton failed to take him and went straight to his job. Hudley Hamlett was left in the back seat of the car while Dalton worked.
According to the sheriff’s office, Dalton went to pick Hudley up from day care as usual. When he arrived, he was told that he never dropped him off. That’s when Dalton discovered the boy in the back seat of his car, where he had been for over eight hours.
“It’s very unfortunate that our society today lives so fast, and to think that we would live in a life that is so fast that you would forget, that you would leave a little fellow like that in the back seat, even if they are asleep,” Amherst County Sheriff Jimmy Ayers told WSET.
“It’s just a tragedy that you never, never expect to happen, never should happen, but it’s unfortunate that it did.”
Dalton was arrested at the scene and charged with abuse and neglect of children and involuntary manslaughter. According to Ayers, Dalton is cooperating with the investigation, and has expressed remorse. Ayers says there is no evidence so far to prove this was intentional.
“You just have to be mindful and always, that children have to be at the forefront of whatever, whether it’s our children or whether it’s children that we are in custody of, taking care of, babysitting, whatever it may be,” Ayers said.
An official cause of death has not yet been released. On August 2, which would have been Hudley’s second birthday, the community came together to celebrate the boy. Hudley’s biological mother, Jennifer Dalton, told WSET that they were taking his death one day at a time, and that the loss has been devastating.
