A family doctor who accidentally left her baby granddaughter in a hot car for eight hours where she died will not be indicted over the tragedy, a grand jury has ruled.
Kentucky jurors found there was insufficient probable cause for the indictment of Stacey Fazenbaker, 61, over the August death of 10-month-old Scottie Gwyn Crowell.
Hopkins County Attorney Hannah Kington-Jarvis made the announcement this week, but gave little information about how the jurors came to this conclusion.
'Pursuant to (state court rules), the Commonwealth is limited to the information that can be provided to the public as grand jury proceedings are secret proceedings by law,' she said in a release.
'The Madisonville Police Department conducted a thorough and objective investigation. The Commonwealth waited to present this case to the Grand Jury until all relevant evidence was available for the Grand Jury to consider.'
Kingston-Jarvis said the baby's parents - Fazenbaker's daughter Sydni Crowell, and her husband Micah Crowell - were consulted during the investigation.
'I would ask that you keep the infant's parents and family in your thoughts and prayers as they continue to grieve and process this imaginable loss,' Kingston-Jarvis said.
The horror unfolded on August 13, and Madisonville Police Department gave the inside story to the Daily Mail in the days that followed.
Scottie Gwyn Crowell, a 10-month-old baby girl, died in the back seat of her grandmother's car after she was accidentally left there for eight hours
Scottie was born through IVF on September 20, 2025, after her parents Sydni and Micah Crowell (pictured with Scottie) failed to conceive when trying for second child
Scottie's grandmother Stacey Fazenbaker, 61, was supposed to drop her off at daycare but instead drove to Owensboro Health Multicare in Madisonville, Kentucky, where she is a family doctor - forgetting the baby girl was in the back seat
Fazenbaker was driving to work at Owensboro Health Multicare in Madisonville, Kentucky, with Scottie in the car, when she forgot the baby was in the backseat.
Instead of dropping her off at daycare at 7am en route to work, she left her in the vehicle for eight hours during a heatwave, as temperatures soared to 95F outside.
No one knew Scottie was slowly dying in the hot car until her father, Micah Crowell, arrived at the daycare about 4pm and was told she was never dropped off.
Police said the confused dad called his wife, who rang Fazenbaker for the worst conversation of her life.
'She (Fazenbaker) ran outside with some co-workers to get the child. But it was far too late by then,' Madisonville Police Major Jason McKnight told reporters.
'Officers arrived on scene, [paramedics] and the fire department arrived shortly after they did, and they found the infant.
'The grandmother had already got the child, and so the officers tried some lifesaving measures, but unfortunately it was too late for that.'
Scottie was a miracle baby, born via in-vitro fertilization on September 20, 2025, after her parents struggled to conceive while trying for a second child.
Scottie as a newborn in hospital with her parents and three-year-old brother
Crowell had only just started at Baptist Health Deaconess when Scottie was born, after completing her residency at Mercy Hospital in St Louis
Fazenbaker had moved to Madisonville just a year earlier to be close to her daughter Sydni, 33, herself an OB/GYN at a nearby clinic.
Prosecutors can charge parents with various offenses, from neglect to manslaughter, following the death of a child after being left in a hot car.
In this case, Fazenbaker was not indicted. The Daily Mail has contacted the court for more information.
About 37 children die from being left in a hot car every year across the US, including at least 23 in Kentucky since 1998, according to statistics by No Heat Stroke.
Texas and Florida had by far the most deaths with 155 and 115, and the hot South and South West had the most per capita.
Children can't regulate their temperature as efficiently as adults and their body temperatures warm three to five times faster.
Heatstroke sets in when body temperature reaches 104F and organs begin to shut down at 107F.
'After a failed embryo transfer, this beautiful IVF baby has brought us such joy,' Crowell wrote next to a photo of her swaddled newborn
Temperatures inside a car can rise to 104F in just half an hour on a 70F day, and reach 115F in an hour. On a 95F day it would get to 140F in an hour.
Cracking the window only reduces the internal temperature by about 3F.
As difficult as it is to imagine forgetting your child in a car, experts explain that parents often function on autopilot and lose awareness that a child is there.
No Heat Stroke suggested putting a soft toy in the front seat to remind you there was a child in the car, or putting items you need in the back seat next to the child.
Vehicles should also be locked at all times and keys kept out of reach to stop curious children climbing in and getting locked inside.
