Every time we read of a child dying inside a hot car, the details are undeniably tragic. But a story out of Hobbs, New Mexico, this week feels particularly gut-wrenching, considering how long the parents of the girl struggled to have her. Two-year-old Zariah was the only child of Demi Petrowski and Zachary Hasheme, who underwent years of infertility and painful miscarriages before they finally became parents, according to Fox 43. But on September 17, their dreams were shattered when Zariah's babysitter allegedly forgot she was in the back seat and went to work.
Police say it was around 6:30 a.m. when Tammie Brooks, 41, failed to drop the toddler off at day care and instead drove on to her second job.
It would be hours before Brooks remembered the little girl was in the back seat and discovered her unresponsive around 1:30 p.m.
By then, Brooks had worked a shift at her other job and even run errands with the toddler's lifeless body inside. Sadly, it was too late for the little girl to be saved.
Brooks has been charged with abandonment or abuse of a child resulting in death, which is a first-degree felony, and is being held in Hobbs City Jail pending her arraignment, WSET reported.
Demi Petrowski told reporters she and her husband are struggling to cope with the sudden loss of the child they so desperately wanted.
Understandably traumatized by what happened to her daughter, Petrowski told KOB4 this week that she "would not wish this pain and this hurt upon my worst enemy."
She also opened up about the seemingly endless heartbreak the couple endured while trying to have Zariah, which resulted in six miscarriages before they finally welcomed their daughter.
"I remember praying every single day, nonstop," Petrowski recalled.
The parents are both haunted by what happened to their daughter and at a loss for how anyone could forget a child.
"I hear Demi screaming on the other line saying that Zariah's dead and I didn't know what to do," Zachary Hasheme told KOB4. "I slammed on my brakes and pulled over."
The heartbroken dad later shared with KOB4 that the little girl had recently called him "Dada" for the first time.
"I mean, you can forget to bring a pen with you," Hasheme said, "but it's kind of hard to forget about a kid in the car."
And yet, as unfathomable as it may be, forgetting a child in the back seat for hours at a time does happen.
Zariah's death marked the 42nd hot car death in 2019, according to KidsandCars.org. And sadly, it won't be the last. In fact, there was one more just days afterward, when two parents in San Antonio, Texas, forgot their 3-year-old in the back seat after coming back from their older child's tee ball game. He was found dead hours later in his car seat.
Zariah's parents are urging parents and guardians to be vigilant about checking their back seats and putting reminders in place.
"Always look at the back seat of the car, and if there is a child in there or you hear a child screaming, please just — you know, help," Demi said.
She has a message for day care centers too, after their own never alerted them that Zariah had not shown up that day: "If you know a child is not there at their appointed time, please contact the parents or someone on the emergency list right away."
As they continue to try to make sense of their loss, the parents are planning their daughter's funeral and leaning in to friends and family rallying behind them. Some have even been gracious enough to set up a GoFundMe page for the couple, where generous strangers are donating to help cover funeral expenses and bills as they struggle to carry on.
