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Written by: A. Smith
Published October 20, 2025 @ 11:00 AM ET
NEWTON COUNTY, Ga. – A Newton County woman was sentenced last week to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the death of her 13-month-old daughter, who died after being left in a hot car for several hours in 2023.
Ariel Jamiyla Osbey, 31, also pleaded guilty to making a false statement in connection with the death of her daughter, Imani Osbey, according to Alcovy Judicial Circuit District Attorney Randy McGinley. Following her prison term, Osbey will serve 15 years of probation and is required to undergo mental health treatment. She is also barred from unsupervised contact with any child under 16.
Investigators said Osbey left her daughter inside a vehicle for roughly five hours on October 10, 2023, while she worked cleaning homes in Newton County. Surveillance footage showed that Imani was never brought inside, contradicting Osbey’s claim that she had taken her daughter with her.
Osbey left her home in Clarkston and arrived at the property she was hired to clean around 10 a.m., finishing her work by 3:24 p.m. She later told investigators that she drove to a cemetery to wait for traffic to clear before noticing her daughter was unresponsive. At that point, she called 911, claiming the baby had been sick.
Deputies responding to the scene reported that the interior of Osbey’s vehicle was extremely hot, with hot air blowing from the vents. Imani’s zip-up hoodie was found on the floorboard and was damp when touched. She was transported to Piedmont Newton Hospital, where her internal temperature was measured at 107 degrees. Imani was pronounced dead shortly afterward.
Osbey was indicted by a Newton County grand jury in December 2023. Court proceedings were delayed while she underwent a court-ordered mental health evaluation requested by her defense attorneys. Booking records show Osbey has been held in the Newton County Jail since two days after her daughter’s death.
“This case was heartbreaking and entirely preventable,” McGinley said in a statement. “The defendant chose to leave her 13-month-old child in a hot car for hours. Sadly, incidents like this still occur far too often. I hope this case serves as a reminder to never let this happen.”
According to the advocacy group Kids and Car Safety, at least 1,160 children in the United States have died in hot cars since 1990, including 30 children so far this year. Most cases involve children unintentionally left behind, though some, like Imani’s, involve criminal negligence.
High-profile Georgia cases, such as the 2014 death of 22-month-old Cooper Harris in Cobb County, highlight how hot-car deaths continue to attract national attention. In that case, Cooper’s father was initially convicted of murder, but the conviction was overturned due to issues with the trial.