Lakewood baby dies after being forgotten in hot minivan; father charged with child endangerment

Moshe Ehrlich, a 35-year-old Lakewood yeshiva student, faces a second-degree child endangerment charge after his four-month-old son died last month, left in a minivan for over two hours.

Ehrlich, a father of six, described a rushed routine that day to investigators. Normally responsible for dropping three children at school or a sitter, he took on four after his six-year-old missed the bus. His wife, Faiga Ehrlich, left for work at 9:30 a.m. as he prepared their four- and two-year-olds for daycare and loaded them, the six-year-old, and the infant into their Toyota Sienna, an affidavit states.

The baby was usually dropped off first, but Ehrlich forgot the infant’s milk. After delivering the older children, he returned home, grabbed the milk, and drove to his yeshiva on Princeton Avenue, forgetting the baby. He parked on 5th Street around 11 a.m. and entered class, leaving the child in the car where the temperature later reached 96.2°F, despite an outside temperature of 67.8°F, by 3:45 p.m.

Ehrlich had a reminder system, placing his hat on the passenger seat, but it failed, he told police. At 12:18 p.m., sitter Esther Kitay texted Faiga, noting the baby hadn’t arrived. Faiga saw it at 1:30 p.m., called Ehrlich without success, then used the school’s emergency line. Kitay’s son, Zevi, 19, confronted Ehrlich at the yeshiva: “Where is your baby?” Ehrlich rushed to the minivan, removed the infant, and called Hatzolah emergency services.

The baby was pronounced dead at Monmouth Medical Center’s Southern Campus at 2:40 p.m. Patrolman John T. Ganley and Detective Joseph Mitchell interviewed the parents, joined by their attorney, Yosef Jacobwitz. Faiga said the baby had been healthy two days prior. Jacobwitz requested a virtual autopsy, using scans instead of a full procedure, if they stipulated the death resulted from the car incident, but a full autopsy was deemed necessary after an initial scan.

Conducted on March 19 at Community Medical Center in Toms River, the autopsy showed no trauma, with the cause pending lab results, Ganley reported. That day, Assistant Prosecutor Mara Brater authorized the charge against Ehrlich, based on an affidavit obtained by the Asbury Park Press. The investigation continues, with a search warrant executed on the minivan and Ehrlich’s phone.

The Ashbury Park Press contributed to this article.