Alabama grandfather faces charges after 2-year-old dies in hot car

An Alabama grandfather has been charged in the death of his 2-year-old grandson, who died after being left in a hot car for seven hours.

On Wednesday, the Oneonta Police Department said in a Facebook post that they, along with the Blount County Sheriff’s Office, the Blount County DHR and the Blount County District Attorney’s Office, are “investigating the death of a two-year-old male child.”

OPD also said the child’s family found him in a car at a daycare shortly after 3 p.m. “However, the child was not under the supervision of the daycare,” police noted, adding, “A family member transported/him was found dead around 3 pm in the local establishment.

Officers believed the child had been in the car for a long time. At a news conference Wednesday, a local ABC affiliate recorded Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey becoming emotional while talking about the case.

She explained that although the child was found dead at the daycare, he was taken there and the daycare staff had nothing to do with his death.

Casey said the grandfather was Bill Wiseman, who was 56 years old, and the boy who died was Ian Wiseman, who was 2 years old. Wiesman picked up Ian that morning and drove him to work, leaving Ian in the car.

Wiesman “returned to the truck three times” and drove the vehicle throughout the day, which Casey said showed “he always thought he was taking the child to daycare.”

She said he returned to the daycare because he thought he had left the child there. Casey also saw that the child’s car seat was forward-facing instead of rear-facing. “So as a result of his behavior and actions, the child died from prolonged exposure to heat,” the district attorney said.

Casey did not know how much Wiesman’s bond was. He was with the sheriff’s office at the time and would later be arrested and charged. Multiple news sources say he has since been charged with reckless homicide and criminally negligent homicide.

Casey is the mother of a 2-month-old and a 3-year-old. At the press conference, she held back tears as she spoke about how she felt about the tragedy.

“It’s terrible when it happens anywhere. It’s horrible when you have to work these cases and you go home to your babies and you see what you see and videos. It’s terrible. My heart breaks for this family. This family is very upset about what happened.”

“As a mother, I don’t think anyone will ever understand. I did not sleep last night. I don’t get it,” Casey said. She also said there was “no evidence” that Wiesman had dementia.

Fox 59 in Indianapolis says Ian was in the truck for seven hours Tuesday when the temperature reached 90 degrees. According to sources, Wiesman told police he came home for lunch at 12:45 p.m. and stopped by the truck to smoke a cigarette and play a cell phone game before returning to work.

Then around 3 p.m. local time, Wiesman’s daughter called him and asked where her son was. Ian’s aunt went to pick him up, only to hear that he had never turned up. Wiesman said he was sure he took the child to daycare and then went there.

According to documents from the district attorney’s office, when Ian’s aunt went out to the truck, she found Ian dead in the back driver’s seat of Wiseman’s truck. To date, Wiesman’s legal representation status remains unknown.

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