An Alabama woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the hot car death of her 13-month-old baby boy.
Elizabeth Anne Case, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter in March and received credit for the four years and 150 days she spent in pretrial detention at a hearing on Tuesday.
The incident occurred on October 5, 2019, when Elizabeth Case left her son, Casen Case, alone in a car overnight after a night of dumpster diving.
She had chosen dumpsters in both Limestone and nearby Madison counties while searching for reusable goods.
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During this time, the young boy was left strapped into a front-facing car seat.
Elizabeth Case returned home around 5:40 a.m. and went to sleep, leaving her son alone in the vehicle for the last time.
It was not until the next afternoon, when Casen’s grandmother, Theresa Moss, came to visit and couldn’t find the 1-year-old, that the tragic discovery was made. Casen was found inside the car, lifeless and unresponsive.
Upon finding her son, Elizabeth Case did not immediately seek help from law enforcement or emergency medical services. Instead, she took him inside the house and placed him in the shower.
It was Casen’s grandmother who took action, calling 911 and meeting Athens Police Department officers at the intersection of two highways. Tragically, the temperature outside was around 97 degrees on the day of Casen’s death.
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Elizabeth Case’s journey through the legal system was a complex one. Initially arrested for her son’s reckless murder, she was later indicted on more serious felony murder charges. Eventually, on January 3, 2022, she was indicted on a charge of capital murder. However, Case pleaded not guilty to the most serious charge and a superseding indictment was filed in late summer 2023.
According to WHNT, in March 2023, Casen’s aunt, Laura Barnett, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Elizabeth Case, the Alabama Department of Human Resources, and the directors of the Limestone County Department of Human Resources. The lawsuit claimed that the state had received numerous reports of abuse but had failed to take action to protect Casen.
Ultimately, Elizabeth Case pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and on April 23, 2024, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The sentence took into account the time she had already spent in pretrial detention.
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