Inset left: Camerone Leichman (Rockwall Police Dept.). Inset right: Rymedi Worth (GoFundMe). Background: Rockwall Heath High School (Google Maps).
A 36-year-old man from Texas has been detained after reportedly leaving a 6-month-old infant in his care inside a hot vehicle for an entire day, resulting in the child’s death as her body temperature climbed to 107 degrees.
Camerone Leichman was arrested this week and faces charges of one count of injury to a child leading to serious bodily harm or death, according to records viewed by Law&Crime. This charge is a second-degree felony, which can result in up to 20 years in a state prison and a maximum penalty of $10,000.
Emergency medical staff and officers from the Rockwall Police Department responded to a call at approximately 4:40 p.m. on Tuesday regarding an unresponsive baby inside a car parked at Rockwall-Heath High School, located in the 800 block of Laurence Drive, as reported by Dallas Fox affiliate KDFW. The school is situated about 25 miles northeast of Dallas.
“The caller reported an unresponsive 6-month-old female infant in a car seat in the back right passenger compartment,” police wrote in the affidavit.
Upon extracting the child from the vehicle, medics recorded the infant’s temperature at 107 degrees, as documented. Medical personnel did not perform any life-saving measures on the child “as she was clearly deceased.”
Investigators initially said they were unsure as to how long the child had been left unattended in the car.
Court documents obtained by Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA provided additional details about the alleged circumstances of the infant’s death.
The report indicates that Leichman, who had only recently become the child’s legal guardian, drove his wife, a teacher, to Rockwall-Heath High School around 8:15 a.m. on that day with the infant seated in the rear of the vehicle. Following this, Leichman was supposed to transport the child to daycare but reportedly failed to do so.
Instead of proceeding to the daycare, Leichman returned home and allegedly went inside, leaving the infant in the vehicle parked outdoors throughout the day. It wasn’t until he drove the car back to the high school to collect his wife that she noticed the child and contacted 911.
The child was dead by the time medics arrived on the scene.
WFAA further reported that the victim’s name was Rymedi Worth and Leichman was her step-grandfather.
A GoFundMe page started for the victim’s funeral expenses said she “tragically lost her life in an unimaginable and heartbreaking accident.”
“Rymedi — whom we lovingly called Rym — was the most precious baby you could ever meet. Always smiling, always moving, always lighting up the room with her presence. She was a joyful, laughing, active baby — truly one of a kind,” the page states. “We are devastated knowing we will never get to see her crawl, hear her first words, or celebrate her first birthday. We will never watch her take her first steps, go to her first day of school, or grow into the amazing person we know she would have become. Our hearts are shattered beyond repair.”
Leichman was booked into the Rockwall County Detention Center where he remained as of Thursday in lieu of $500,000 bond, jail records show.
