Father charged with murder after toddler dies in hot SUV in Pennsylvania

Northampton County prosecutors charged Daniel Moist, 38, on July 2 with third-degree murder after his 14-month-old daughter was found dead in the back of his SUV in Lower Nazareth Township. Moist also faces involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of children, recklessly endangering another person, and leaving a child unattended in a vehicle.

Moist was supposed to drop the toddler at daycare on June 11 but never did. Instead, he took his 7-year-old daughter to sports camp at Pen Argyl High School around 9 a.m., stopped at a gas station to buy drinks, and then drove to work while the younger child remained in the vehicle. By about 9:50 a.m., he had reached work and spent roughly 10 minutes checking emails on his phone before going inside.

Moist’s wife called him shortly after 4 p.m. when she realized the toddler had never arrived at daycare. Moist went back to the SUV, tried to get the child to a hospital and was then told by a 911 dispatcher to pull over so EMS could respond. The SUV was parked in an unshaded open lot, and Baratta said Moist did not appear to work at the business where the vehicle was found.

Moist was inside the building until about 2:30 p.m. before briefly returning to the car, and the vehicle had a mirror in the back seat that would have let a driver see the toddler in her rear-facing car seat. Moist pointed out a vaping device on the floor of the patrol car while officers were on scene, and toxicology found the active ingredient in marijuana in his blood.

The death unfolded as temperatures in Northampton County climbed into the 90s, with a heat advisory in effect. The Northampton County Coroner’s Office ruled the death a heat-related fatality.