Diana Sofia Aleman Roman was found unresponsive in an SUV outside her parents’ home in Santee, San Diego, around 12:20 am on June 13.
She had been left in the car for several hours in 63°F weather when a family member discovered her and called 911. Despite being rushed to the hospital, the baby girl did not survive.
San Diego County Sheriff’s Office detectives are investigating how Diana was forgotten in the car and who left her there. No charges have been filed.
Studies indicate that the temperature inside a car can rise to 104°F within 30 minutes on a 70°F day and reach 115°F in an hour, with the body’s organs beginning to shut down at 107°F.
Diana’s parents, Romer and Jayson De Los Santos, had brought her home on April 11 after meeting her for the first time at a hospital in Arizona. Heartwarming photos showed them cradling the infant and introducing her to their two-year-old son, who was also adopted, and Diana at home in her crib.
“I haven’t slept in days,” Romer wrote alongside one of the photos.
The couple had posted a link to an adoption site profile on social media in November, seeking a second child. “Our hearts and home are open to providing more love to another amazing child,” they wrote on the profile. “We want our children to grow up full of memories of playing on the beach, building sandcastles, making friends, biking to the park, going on Hawaiian cruises, and learning how to raise foster kittens.”
Romer, a senior consultant at Jama Software, and Jayson, a stay-at-home dad since they adopted their son, have been together for more than 20 years. They married in 2008 during the brief period when same-sex marriage was legal in California before it was banned again by Proposition 8 until 2013.
