Inset left to right: Ariel Osbey and Imani Osbey (Alcovy Judicial Circuit District Attorney”s Office). Background: The stretch of highway where Imani was found suffering from a fatal case of hyperthermia in Newton County, Ga. in October 2023 (Google Maps).
A Georgia mother will spend decades behind bars for the hot car death of her 1-year-old baby girl, prosecutors recently announced.
Last week, Ariel Osbey, 31, pleaded guilty to one count each of murder in the second degree and making a false statement over the incident that took the life of 13-month-old Imani Osbey, according to a press release issued by the Alcovy Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.
In turn, Osbey was sentenced to 20 years in a Peach State prison to be followed by 15 years on probation. Upon release, Osbey will not be allowed to have unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16 and must undergo mental health treatment.
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The child died on Oct. 10, 2023, inside of her mother’s car, where she had been sitting alone and unattended in a rear-facing car seat, in the sweltering heat for some five hours while her mother was inside a Newton County home where she was providing cleaning services, according to the district attorney’s office.
After finishing up work, the now-convicted woman got into her vehicle and left the neighborhood, prosecutors said. Osbey only traveled a short distance, however, before she realized something was deeply wrong with the little girl and dialed 911.
Responding deputies met the mother at the intersection of Georgia State Route 162 and Rocky Plains Road in Newton County, according to a contemporaneous report by Atlanta-based NBC affiliate WXIA.
But first, the defendant tried subterfuge, law enforcement said.
“When deputies arrived she told them that her daughter had been sick and that she was traveling on Highway 162 when she noticed that Imani was not making any sounds or breathing,” the district attorney’s office wrote in the press release. “Imani was transported to Piedmont Newton where her internal temperature was noted to be 107 degrees. Imani was soon pronounced dead from hyperthermia.”
Aside from Imani’s body temperature, other pieces of evidence began to point away from the illness narrative supplied by the mother.
Deputies at the scene of the crime noticed the inside of the car appeared to be “extremely hot” and that hot air was blowing through the vents, prosecutors said. And, perhaps tellingly, on the floorboard, investigators found Imani’s zip-up hoodie – damp to the touch.
At the hospital, the false narrative is said to have continued. Osbey told Newton County Sheriff’s Office investigators that her daughter had gone into the house with her while she was cleaning — but that lie was easily disproved by surveillance footage, according to law enforcement. Prosecutors used the footage for the timeline of her fatal neglect as well.
“The same camera, which, like most surveillance cameras, is motion activated, did not show the Defendant coming out of the house to check on Imani at all,” the press release continues.
On Dec. 1, 2023, Osbey was indicted on the same counts she eventually pleaded guilty to. During her plea hearing, the defendant entered a non-negotiated guilty plea — meaning the state and defense offered their own suggestions to the court for the proper course of punishment.
The defense, for its part, requested a sentence wholly comprised of 10 years on probation — which the judge handily rejected.
“Any death of a child is heartbreaking,” Alcovy Judicial Circuit District Attorney Randy McGinley said in a statement. “Imani’s death was not only preventable, but also criminal. The Defendant chose to leave her 13-month-old child in a hot car for hours. Sadly, a short internet search will show that this still occurs far too often. I hope this case will serve as a reminder to anyone reading this to never let this happen.”
