When he reached his house in Melissa, Texas, though, he decided he needed a nap and quickly went inside, in his haste, he forgot Fern in the van while he slept for about four hours, according to the arrest warrant obtained by WFAA.
The temperature on that day went as high as 95 degrees.
At 1 p.m., Michael woke up and realized his daughter was still in the car. Panicking, he ran to the van and flung open the door, he found his daughter “stiff” as a board and “hot as a brick.”
She was unresponsive as he carried her little body into the house.
Apparently in an attempt to cool her down, Michael placed his daughter in the refrigerator, among the Thedfords’ groceries, and left her there for “an undetermined length of time,” authorities said.
After a while, he pulled her body from the fridge and attempted to perform CPR. Only then did he call his wife and the authorities, both of whom rushed to the house.
6 month old Fern was dead and her father, Michael has since been charged with manslaughter.