The death of Jefferson Brady Wilkins was ruled accidental.

CAROLINA BEACH -- The May 25 hot-car death of Jefferson Brady Wilkins was a “perfect storm” brought about by a change in daily routine, and not borne from criminal negligence, New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David said Friday during a news conference in Carolina Beach.

“The case before us was the result of an accident -- the perfect storm of circumstances arising from a change of routine, sleep deprivation and outright forgetfulness,” David said, announcing no charges will be filed against Wilmington mother Nancy Toni Byrd-Wilkins in the death of her 9-month-old son.

David’s declaration came more than four weeks after Jefferson was found dead inside his mother’s black SUV when she arrived at his daycare center to pick him up.

Slipping into routine

The investigation revealed that on the morning of Jefferson’s death, Wilkins woke with the baby at 3:30 a.m., before going back to sleep, only to wake later and take him to a doctor’s appointment for a checkup.

Her husband Jeremy Wilkins, a Wilmington real estate attorney, dropped off the couple’s 4-year-old son at the Pax Natura daycare on Wilshire Boulevard.

Following the doctor’s appointment, Nancy Wilkins put her baby in the car and then drove to the same drive-thru coffee shop she went to every morning, David said. It appears that was where she inadvertently slipped into her normal routine.

Wilkins left the shop and drove directly to work at the Ivy Cottage. Business records show she clocked in at 9:36 a.m.

Her black SUV, with the baby inside, was parked for eight hours. The outside temperature on May 25 reached 86 degrees. Experts say the internal temperature of a vehicle can reach 135 degrees within 20 minutes in that kind of weather.

At 5:17 p.m., Wilkins clocked out of work and drove the 2.2 miles to Pax Natura. When she asked the daycare workers for her baby, they told her he’d never been there.

“Mrs. Wilkins told officers that she initially believed her son had been kidnapped. She then ran out to her car and discovered that the child was still in the vehicle,” David said.

'Baby in the car'

Her horrifying realization was captured on the recording of her call to 911.

Most of what she said was lost in her shrieks -- except for four words -- “baby in the car.”

Bystanders tried to help. A Time Warner Cable employee broke out the back window of the SUV with a crow bar and crawled inside. Someone outside managed to get the door open. They pulled Jefferson’s tiny body from his rear-facing car seat situated behind the driver’s seat. A daycare worker, who also called 911, tried to perform CPR. When she realized it was futile, she too dissolved into wails.

The cause of death was determined to be “death by hyperthermia due to environmental exposure/accident.”

It was a chaotic, gut-wrenching scene, one that moved even “hardened career professionals to tears,” David said.

'All of us grieve'

The finding of no wrongdoing on Wilkins’ behalf came after “hundreds of hours of investigation” that included analyses of Wilkins' cellphone; a blood draw that found no evidence of alcohol, illegal drugs or impairment; the review of surveillance videos; and interviews with coworkers and witnesses, David said.

“An innocent baby is dead and all of us grieve. Filing criminal charges will not make us safer, balm our hurt or bring him back,” David said. “We should not elevate a tragedy to a crime merely to say that grave accidents cannot happen and must be the result of something more sinister. Sometimes accidents do happen and they break our hearts.”

Reporter F.T. Norton can be reached at 910-343-2070 or Fran.Norton@StarNewsOnline.com.

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Find out more about children in hot cars at KidsandCars.org.

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Reporter F.T. Norton can be reached at 910-343-2070 or Fran.Norton@StarNewsOnline.com.