A five-year-old boy in Peoria, Arizona, died after being left in a vehicle for over two hours while his parents hosted a party. The incident occurred on Sunday around 1 p.m. after the family returned from a baptism. The boy, Theo Sabo, was discovered unresponsive in the car, where temperatures reached 106 degrees Fahrenheit. CPR was performed before he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Theo's parents, Mihail Sabo, 50, and Anca Sabo, 45, have been charged with negligent homicide and child abuse. They have four other children aged 18, 15, 14, and 9. During police questioning, Mihail stated he had asked his 14-year-old son to retrieve Theo from the car, but the teen denied being asked. In court, defense attorney Leah Dodd argued that the charges were unwarranted, describing the situation as a tragedy and asserting that the parents acted appropriately once they discovered Theo was missing.
Maricopa County Attorney Brooke Gaunt emphasized that the child was left in the vehicle for an extended period without the parents' awareness. The couple was granted a bond of $150,000 each and are prohibited from contacting each other but may have supervised visits with their other children. They are scheduled to return to court on September 21. An online fundraiser has been set up to support the family during this time.