A grand jury has declined to indict a family doctor whose 10-month-old granddaughter died after being accidentally left in a hot car for eight hours.
Kentucky jurors found insufficient probable cause to indict Stacey Fazenbaker, 61, in connection with the August death of Scottie Gwyn Crowell.
Hopkins County Attorney Hannah Kington-Jarvis announced the decision this week but provided few details about the grand jury’s reasoning.
‘Pursuant to (state court rules), the Commonwealth is limited to the information that can be provided to the public as grand jury proceedings are secret proceedings by law,’ she said in a statement.
‘The Madisonville Police Department conducted a thorough and objective investigation. The Commonwealth waited to present this case to the Grand Jury until all relevant evidence was available for the Grand Jury to consider.’
Kington-Jarvis said Scottie’s parents, Fazenbaker’s daughter Sydni Crowell and her husband Micah Crowell, were consulted during the investigation.
‘I would ask that you keep the infant’s parents and family in your thoughts and prayers as they continue to grieve and process this unimaginable loss,’ Kington-Jarvis said.
The tragedy unfolded on August 13. In the days afterward, the Madisonville Police Department provided details about what happened to Our News Outlet.
Scottie Gwyn Crowell, a 10-month-old baby girl, died in the back seat of her grandmother’s car after being accidentally left there for eight hours
Scottie was born through IVF on September 20, 2025, after her parents, Sydni and Micah Crowell (pictured with Scottie), struggled to conceive while trying for a second child
Scottie’s grandmother Stacey Fazenbaker, 61, was meant to take her to daycare but instead drove to Owensboro Health Multicare in Madisonville, Kentucky, where she worked as a family doctor, forgetting the baby was in the back seat
Fazenbaker was driving to her job at Owensboro Health Multicare in Madisonville with Scottie inside the vehicle when she forgot the baby was in the back seat.
Rather than dropping Scottie at daycare at about 7am on her way to work, she left the child in the car for eight hours during a heatwave, with outdoor temperatures reaching 95F.
No one realized Scottie was in the sweltering vehicle until her father, Micah Crowell, arrived at the daycare at about 4pm and learned that she had never been dropped off.
Police said the confused father called his wife, who then contacted Fazenbaker in what became the family’s worst conversation.
‘She (Fazenbaker) ran outside with some co-workers to get the child. But it was far too late by then,’ Madisonville Police Major Jason McKnight told reporters.
‘Officers arrived on scene, [paramedics] and the fire department arrived shortly after they did, and they found the infant.
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‘The grandmother had already got the child, and so the officers tried some lifesaving measures, but unfortunately it was too late for that.’
Scottie was described as a miracle baby, conceived through in-vitro fertilization after her parents struggled to have a second child.
Scottie as a newborn in hospital with her parents and three-year-old brother
Crowell had only recently started at Baptist Health Deaconess when Scottie was born, after completing her residency at Mercy Hospital in St Louis
Fazenbaker had moved to Madisonville about a year earlier to be near her 33-year-old daughter Sydni, who worked as an OB/GYN at a nearby clinic.
Depending on the circumstances, prosecutors can bring charges ranging from child neglect to manslaughter when a child dies after being left in a hot vehicle.
Fazenbaker was not indicted in this case. Our News Outlet has contacted the court for further information.
Around 37 children die after being left in hot cars across the United States each year, including at least 23 in Kentucky since 1998, according to No Heat Stroke statistics.
Texas and Florida have recorded the highest numbers of deaths, with 155 and 115 respectively, while the hot South and Southwest have had the highest rates per capita.
Children cannot regulate their body temperature as effectively as adults, and their bodies can heat up three to five times faster.
Heatstroke begins when body temperature reaches 104F, while organs can start shutting down at 107F.
‘After a failed embryo transfer, this beautiful IVF baby has brought us such joy,’ Crowell wrote beside a photograph of her swaddled newborn
The temperature inside a car can climb to 104F in just 30 minutes on a 70F day and reach 115F within an hour. On a 95F day, the interior can reach 140F in an hour.
Leaving a window slightly open lowers the interior temperature by only about 3F.
Although it may be difficult to understand how a child could be forgotten in a vehicle, experts say parents can slip into routine and lose awareness that a child is with them.
No Heat Stroke recommends placing a soft toy in the front seat as a reminder that a child is in the vehicle, or putting essential items in the back seat beside the child.
Experts also advise keeping vehicles locked and storing keys out of children’s reach to prevent them from climbing inside and becoming trapped.
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