Second-Degree Murder

MyFox8 reported police charged caregiver Briea Askew with second-degree murder. Askew was taking care of a 21 year old female vulnerable adult with cerebral palsy. The patient was in a hot car for around five hours. She died in a hospital on Aug. 10, according to a High Point Police Department news release. Absolutely horrific.

Officers responded to the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist High Point Medical Center in reference to a death investigation. Investigators discovered that the victim had an extremely elevated temperature over 110 degrees upon admission. Doctors pronounced her dead a short time later.

During the course of the investigation, police determined that the victim was left in an unattended vehicle for five hours without air conditioning!  How could this happen? What was the caregiver doing? Obviously, the excessive heat and humidity caused the victim’s wrongful death.

Police arrested Askew and charged her for second-degree murder. She is in the Guilford County Jail with a $200,000 bond.