Frisco mother found guilty of murder for child's death in hot car

FRISCO, Texas - A North Texas mother will spend years behind bars for her role in the death of her toddler in a hot car last summer.

Frisco intentional hot car murder

What we know:

27-year-old Vanessa Esquivel was found guilty of murder by a Collin County jury on June 19.

Esquivel was sentenced to 25 years in prison for her role in the death of her 15-month-old son in a hot car.

The backstory:

The incident happened on Aug. 16, 2025. Police said Esquivel left her son in a hot vehicle outside her workplace, a Frisco spa, for several hours.

An arrest affidavit states investigators believe Esquivel stopped at a McDonald's restaurant before taking the child the hospital.

 Esquivel initially told officers she had been driving the child around in a hot vehicle because the air conditioning was not working. She denied going to work that day and claimed she had been with her son all day.

However, investigators with the Frisco Police Department, working with Plano police, contacted the Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa where Esquivel was employed. They learned she had worked a shift from approximately 1:45 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.

The arrest warrant affidavit states that in a recorded phone call to a coworker on August 17, Esquivel admitted she left her son in her vehicle with the air conditioning running the previous day while she served two clients because she was "between a rock and a hard place" because she was unable to find childcare. She told the employee her son had died. She is quoted as saying, "the incident was her fault" and that she believed she would be arrested.

According to the affidavit, the calls to the spa are automatically recorded. She told the employee to not leak her phone call.

Weather data confirmed temperatures in Frisco reached up to 95 degrees on the day of the incident.

FriscoCrime and Public Safety