MUNCIE — A Delaware County woman is pleading guilty in the 2018 hot car death of her two-year-old son
According to Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman, Britni Wihebrink of Daleville entered a guilty plea Wednesday to a charge of neglect of a dependent resulting in death. If a judge accepts the plea agreement, Wihebrink will be sentenced on July 1 and could receive up to 30-years in prison.
During the change-of-plea hearing in Muncie, Wihebrink admitted that on September 5, 2018 she was drinking to the point of intoxication at her Daleville apartment. According to her blood toxicology, she had a BAC of .155, which is well above Indiana's legal limit.
As a result, at some point that afternoon Wihebrink fell asleep. Her little boy, Jaxon, was able to leave the apartment and got into Wihebrink’s car which was parked outside. He closed himself inside and eventually passed out. Jaxon was eventually found, but died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.
An autopsy revealed that the cause of the boy's death was hyperthermia with a contributing cause of elevated temperature in an enclosed space.
