BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — After leaving her children in a car for over two hours on June 29, Maya Hernandez left a spa and returned to find her sons in distress. According to a witness who found Hernandez 15 minutes later, she had not called 911 yet.
Hernandez is facing second-degree murder charges for the death of her one-year-old son, Amillio Gutierrez, who died of heat stroke after being locked in a car for two-and-a-half hours with his brother. Hernandez also faces child endangerment charges for Amillio and her other son, who survived.
On Tuesday, the prosecution called Isabel Carreon to the stand, an employee of the spa where Hernandez was receiving her treatment.
According to Carreon, Hernandez had left the building after her treatment to retrieve her phone to pay for the service. Carreon testified that after 15 minutes, she went out to get a charger from her car and to check if Hernandez had left without paying.
“She was sitting in the driver’s seat,” Carreon said. “The girl had the baby in her arms.”
Carreon said she told Hernandez to take the baby into the building to have the registered nurse help. It wasn’t until after Hernandez left that Carreon noticed the second child in the back seat. She testified that up to that point, Hernandez had not mentioned another child.
Prosecutor Stephanie Taconi asked Carreon about Hernandez’s demeanor during the incident.
“Do you recall telling officers in this case that she wasn’t acting with any urgency?” Taconi asked. Carreon responded that was correct.
Taconi asked if, at any point, Hernandez was seen on the phone with 911, performing CPR, or initiating any life-saving measures. Carreon said no.
On cross-examination, defense counsel Teryl Wakeman asked Carreon if Hernandez immediately acted when she told her to take her baby inside. She said she did.
“This was an upsetting day for you, wasn’t it?” Wakeman asked.
“Correct,” Carreon responded.
Following the June 29th incident, police recreated it a few days later with conditions nearly identical to the day of, according to detectives.
Detective Dean Barthelmes testified that after reviewing the surveillance video and user manual of the car, it was determined that Hernandez arrived at the spa just before 1 p.m., exited the car for the final time at 2:09 p.m., and would not return until 4:33 p.m. on June 29.
Barthelmes said they conducted the recreation of events in a way that was “most favorable” to Hernandez.
During the recreation, the car started with a temperature of 81 degrees with the air conditioning going. Barthelmes said the between 2:10 to 3:10 p.m., the car remained in the low 80s. Between 3:05 and 3:10 p.m., the car shut off and the temperature began to rise. By 3:15, the temperature was 92 degrees. By 4:33 p.m., the temperature was 116 degrees.
“At 4:16, my body-worn camera shut off,” Barthelmes testified. “It reached a critical internal temperature.”
During cross-examination, the defense questioned whether detectives consulted medical or meteorological experts before drawing conclusions from the recreation. The detective said the experiment was limited due to a narrow timeframe when outdoor conditions could match those on June 29.
Two registered nurses also testified about the boys’ condition when they arrived at Adventist Health. The nurse who treated Emilio said his internal temperature measured 107 degrees but was likely higher before he entered an air-conditioned vehicle.
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