Man sentenced in heat-related death of 5-month-old daughter

RUSSELLVILLE, Ky. (AP) – A Kentucky judge has sentenced a 34-year-old man to 10 years in prison in the death of his 5-month-old daughter after she was left in a van.

The Bowling Green Daily News reports Michael Anthony Thigpen of Brandenburg was sentenced Thursday in Logan County Circuit Court. He pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and two counts of first-degree assault.

Emma Grace Thigpen died June 10, 2016, from hyperthermia. She and two toddler sisters were left in a van parked outside the home in Auburn where Thigpen then lived. The other girls were hospitalized for heat-related problems.

Court records say an investigation found Thigpen was up for 24 hours, drove a shift for Uber and took his wife to work before returning home and falling asleep inside his home with the children in the van.