Dad tried to save baby left in hot car by putting her in refrigerator

MELISSA, Texas (AP) – A Dallas area man whose 6-month-old daughter died after she was left in a hot minivan parked outside the family home has been charged with manslaughter.

Michael Thedford is free on $20,000 bond. Booking records list no attorney for the 33-year-old Melissa man.

According to an arrest affidavit obtained by KDFW-TV of Dallas-Fort Worth, Thedford said he dropped two other children off at day care about 9 a.m. Tuesday and had returned home to sleep. Only when he woke up three hours later did he find his youngest child stiff and “hot as a brick” in the minivan.

He reportedly placed the child in the refrigerator with the door open before calling 911.

The National Weather Service says temperatures were in the low 90s but felt like the upper 90s.