No charges in tot's death
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
No charges will be filed against a woman whose 10-month-old daughter died in October after being left for several hours in the back seat of a locked car.
Anuhea Paet's death by hyperthermia was an accident, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Rom Trader said yesterday. The baby's mother, Susanna Hunt, forgot that the girl was with her in the car and didn't see her in the infant seat when she got out.
Anuhea died on Oct. 13. Hunt found the infant, collapsed in the seat, after spending time at work and then conducting a physical therapy session in the swimming pool of the Windward YMCA.
"I know that people are shocked that something like this could happen," Trader said. "But with the benefit of a full and complete investigation, and as bizarre as it seems ... , that is what we have concluded."
Hunt usually left the child at a baby sitter, Trader said, but at about 7:15 on the morning of Oct. 13, she headed to work with the baby in the car.
The child's seat sat low in the back seat, Trader said, and Anuhea remained quiet during the drive.
Police examined the seat carefully in their investigation, he said. A child could not be seen from the front seat, even if the driver turned around to look.
At about 11:30 a.m., Hunt went to an appointment to conduct a physical therapy session in the pool at the YMCA. She found the baby collapsed in the seat when she returned to the car at about 1 p.m.
"Oh, gosh, yes — it was an accident," said Joanne Holmberg, a YMCA employee who was nearby when Hunt found the baby. "You had to be here to understand, to hear her screaming, to see the absolute horror. ... "
Trader said the medical examiner investigated and determined the death to be an accident. Police found no evidence to contradict that finding, he said.
Prosecutors reviewed the case and could find no basis for legal action, he said.
"By all reports," Trader said, "she was an excellent mother, very caring, who had done everything appropriate in this child's life, up to the time of the accident, to care for her."
Hunt's case was cleared last month, he said.
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
