Bliss at dawn, agony at noon
Palm Beach Post (Florida)
July 21, 2008 Monday
FINAL EDITION
BLISS AT DAWN, AGONY AT NOON
BYLINE: By ALEJANDRA CANCINO and VERONICA MARTINEZ Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 868 words
Four-year-old Gregory Cesar woke to his aunt’s voice Saturday morning. Four hours later, she would lift the dying boy out of a Ford Expedition, splash water on his face and try to breathe life back into him.
But she was too late for Gregory, who admired Superman and liked to ride his red and blue bicycle around the house. He was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. after being left in a parked sport utility vehicle for about three hours while his mother and aunt visited a nail salon.
On that morning, Gregory showered and then dressed himself in the yellow shirt his mother had picked for him. He ate a chocolate chip cookie and drank some juice and water.
It was the big day. At 5 p.m., his mother, Mirlande Jean-Baptiste, 29, was to be married at the Elected Church of God in Lake Worth.
Just a day earlier, Gregory jokingly told his grandmother that he was going to marry the flower girl who would walk beside him as he carried the rings.
“He was a hyper child,” Jean-Baptiste said Sunday at her house on Oak Royal Drive in suburban Lake Worth. She was dressed in black, her eyes were swollen and a white hospital bracelet was still on her wrist.
Her sister, Juliana, 24, described the morning.
The sisters planned to leave Gregory; his sister, Lisa Jean, 10; his cousin, Tracie Cineus, 8; and another girl with a friend, Emanuella Castor. Castor would take the three girls to have their hair done at a nearby salon.
Juliana and her sister thought all the children jumped into the friend’s car. Then the sisters chatted with Castor for a couple of minutes from their Ford Expedition. The back door remained open until Castor closed it, and the two sisters drove to US Nails at 2650 S. Military Trail west of Lake Worth.
They were at the salon for about three hours, said Linda Le, the owner of US Nails. Mirlande Jean-Baptiste got a facial, a full set of acrylic nails and a pedicure. She had been Le’s client since moving from Fort Lauderdale about a year ago.
“She was very happy,” Le said. “She was preparing for a really big day. … They were just relaxing, having a good time.”
When their nails were done, Juliana walked to the car to get cash while her sister paid. She was opening her wallet when she felt the need to look back. She caught a glimpse of yellow fabric, so she looked more closely. That’s when she ran to the back door, opened it and carried Gregory out of the car.
“Gregory, are you crazy?” she said to him.
Gregory wasn’t moving but didn’t look hurt, so Juliana thought he was sleeping.
Mirlande came out of the nail salon and grabbed Gregory from Juliana. She called 911 and Juliana ran to a nearby liquor store to buy water. They splashed water on his face and tried to follow CPR instructions from Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue personnel.
Muhammad Uddin, 48, co-owner of the Apnar Bazar, a Bangladeshi grocery store near the nail salon, said he heard screaming and ran out to see what had happened.
Mirlande Jean-Baptiste “was crying, ‘Oh my God, my baby. Oh my God, my baby.’ She kept screaming. She lost it,” Uddin said.
The ambulance came next. Paramedics tried to revive Gregory and took him to Palms West Hospital in Loxahatchee, but Gregory was gone. Jean-Baptiste had to be sedated at the hospital.
“You could feel the high heat from inside the car,” Uddin said. “The windows were completely closed, they weren’t even a little bit open. It was so hot that day at that time. It was impossible for anybody to survive in there.”
Juliana said Gregory probably didn’t want to go with Castor, so he hid behind the seats of the Expedition.
“He was very smart. All the time, he made me laugh,” she said.
Castor had noticed the boy was not in her car, sheriff’s officials said. She assumed Gregory had gotten back into the Expedition and was with his mother but didn’t call her to confirm that, the sheriff’s report said.
At the Elected Church of God, the Rev. Jacob Suffrard said he feels for Jean-Baptiste, who has been a congregation member for a couple of months.
Suffrard said Jean-Baptiste would come every Friday, Wednesday and Sunday for Bible study and to hear the service.
“She is very quiet but liked the church,” he said.
An autopsy was done Sunday morning. Investigators are waiting for toxicology reports and other testing to determine the cause of death.
Vehicular hyperthermia has caused the deaths of 17 children this year in the U.S., according to Kids and Cars, a national nonprofit. Thirty-five children died last year.
Pivotal points on fateful day
- Mirlande Jean-Baptiste and her sister drop off Gregory Cesar, 4, and three other children with a friend, Emanuella Castor. The women don’t know that Gregory still is in his mom’s SUV. The sisters assume the boy is with Castor.
- The sisters park the SUV at a shopping center at 2650 S. Military Trail west of Lake Worth.
- They walk to US Nails for their nail appointment.
- Three hours later, Jean-Baptiste’s sister discovers Gregory unconscious in the SUV.
- Gregory is pronounced dead at 1 p.m. at Palms West Hospital.
Source: Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and family accounts
Staff researcher Sammy Alzofon and staff writers George Bennett and Bill DiPaolo contributed to this story.
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