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Police Say Woman Whose 1-Year-Old Died in a Hot Car While She Got Her Hair Done Was 'Picky' About Babysitters

And why a barber at the salon was furious to find out the mother didn't bring her child inside.

Georgia police believe the 25-year-old mother whose baby died in a hot car while she got her hair done did not leave her child with a child care provider because she was “picky” about babysitters. 

According to Capt. Jerry A. Lewis of DeKalb police’s major crime unit, Dijanelle Fowler left her 1-year-old daughter, Skylar, in the car because she had doubts about other people watching her child.

“My understanding is she was very picky about who had access to her child, which was why the child was with her most of the time,” Lewis told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday. 

However, workers at the hair salon where Fowler got her hair braided were upset to learn she did not bring the child inside. At Mahogany’s Hair Studio on Lavista Road in DeKalb County, children are welcome for hair appointments or to wait.

For one barber, who wishes to remain anonymous, the incident infuriated him because the Hyundai where Skylar was kept was in his eyesight.

When Fowler, a 25-year-old former college basketball player and biology major, left Skylar in the car, she did leave the air conditioning running, but the car shut off at some point.

Police believe Fowler arrived for an appointment at about 10 a.m. on June 14 and left around 4 p.m. Police said she never mentioned to employees that she’d left Skylar outside.

“She seemed to be a good kid,” Lewis said. “No criminal history. Just made a mistake. A horrible, horrible mistake.”

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