A La Habra couple will be arraigned today on charges of manslaughter and felony child abuse after their 5-month-old son was left in a sweltering car for six hours Monday while they slept, steps away, inside an air-conditioned motel room, police said.
The baby boy, Cailan Cutillo, had been dead at least two hours before his mother, Kimberly Fudge, placed a frantic telephone call to police, said Claremont police Lt. Gary Jenkins. Fudge and her boyfriend, Dylan Cutillo, both 29, had been staying at the Howard Johnson motel in Claremont--roughly 22 miles from their La Habra home--following what police described as a "family dispute" that erupted at the house Sunday evening.
Investigators at first were unsure whether Cutillo knew that his son was locked inside the car, since he had apparently checked in to the motel the night before and was joined Monday morning by Fudge, who drove there with the baby. After interviewing Cutillo overnight, however, Jenkins said detectives were convinced he "was most definitely aware of the situation."
But Cutillo's attorney, Catherine Lombardo, said her client "had no idea the baby was in the car."
The father was asleep when Fudge arrived at the motel room, which he had left unlocked for her, and did not wake up until shortly before 2 p.m., Lombardo said. Fudge awoke a few moments later and realized the baby was still strapped in a car seat in her 1991 four-door Buick, the attorney said. Detectives said the temperature inside the car neared 120 degrees.
"That's when (Cutillo) rushed out to the car," Lombardo said. "That's when he found the baby."
Lombardo said she was puzzled by officials' decision to charge Cutillo because police had indicated earlier that he probably would be released Tuesday. She declined to say whether Cutillo had had any type of discussion with Fudge immediately after she arrived at the motel, as police have said.
Detectives confirmed Tuesday that they are looking into previous reports of child abuse or neglect against Fudge, but declined to elaborate.
"We're examining all of that, yes," Jenkins said.
Officers also took blood samples from the parents to test for the presence of alcohol or drugs, but the results will not be available for three days, Jenkins said.
The temperature in Claremont reached 96 degrees, but inside the closed car, it grew more than 20 degrees hotter, police said.
