BAKER COUNTY, Fla. — A Baker County mother whose 10-month-old baby died in a hot car last year is testifying in court, on Wednesday.
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Action News Jax told you when 48-year-old Rhonda Jewell, the former babysitter of baby Ariya, was accused of leaving the toddler inside of a 133-degree hot car. Brooke Paige, Ariya’s mother, shared an emotional testimony talking about her baby girl while looking at the photos from that day.
“I’m so sorry,” Paige said while choking back tears. “She was a very bubbly girl; she would laugh; she was never a bad baby.”
Lots of tears as family members and friends are taken back to the day baby Ariya took her last breath.
“I felt so helpless, I didn’t know what to do,” Paige said.
Ariya died last July when she was left in a hot car for about five hours. Baker County deputies say Jewell left her in that car, and by the time they found Ariya, the car’s temperature was 133 degrees.
“She was not breathing… her lips were blue,” Paige said.
Paige said she called the police and Jewell took the baby out of the car and placed her in the garage. That’s when Paige called for help to try CPR on her baby.
“She told me two hands on her chest,” Paige said while holding back tears. “She told me don’t push too hard because you’ll break her ribs, but she said give her air on her mouth try to give her air in her mouth.”
Paige said Jewell had been Ariya’s babysitter for a couple of months and they had a routine. Jewell would pick Ariya up at Paige’s house in the morning around 8:30 a.m. and then Paige would pick her baby up around 1 p.m. where Jewell was babysitting three other kids. Those three kids were Stacy Paschal’s and she testified as well.
“She said I left the baby in the car,” Paschal said.
Paschal described Jewell as frantic when she got home to check on her three kids.
“It was very difficult to understand her, but she kept saying that she forgot the baby in the car,” Paschal said.
In the courtroom, Jewell is seen looking emotional as the testimonies are given. Even the detectives and first responders testified. Testimonies will continue tomorrow in Baker County.
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