The family of 3-year-old Ke’Torrius “K.J.” Starkes Jr. is remembering the little boy as a “joyful,” “brilliant” “happy boy who loved life, who would light up any room that he would enter into.”
The toddler died after he was trapped inside a hot car while in the custody of a worker contracted by the Alabama Department of Human Resources, the state’s child protective services agency, according to the Jefferson County Medical Examiner’s Office and the state Department of Human Resources. The Birmingham Police Department is investigating the death.
K.J. had been left inside a car parked outside a home in Birmingham for several hours during the middle of the day on Tuesday, the Jefferson County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
“It’s just hard to comprehend that you would leave a baby in a hot car and just have no recollection whatsoever that the baby, a 3-year-old child, is trapped in your car,” Courtney French, the family’s attorney, told CNN. “He died a brutal death.”
It was humid with temperatures ranging from 93 to 96 degrees during the 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. window when K.J. was allegedly left alone inside the car. Heat index values, which factor in temperature and humidity to determine what it feels like in the shade, ranged from 101 to 105 degrees, according to CNN meteorologists.
The family says a worker, who was employed through a company contracted by the Alabama Department of Human Resources, picked K.J. up from day care at 9 a.m. on Tuesday for a supervised visit with his father. That visit, which was part of a court-ordered process for the parents to regain their custody of K.J., ended around 11:30 a.m., according to French.
“Rather than properly returning K.J. immediately to day care, the worker made numerous personal errands with K.J. buckled in a car seat in the back of her car,” French told CNN.
CNN has contacted the contract company and the Birmingham Police Department but did not immediately hear back.
KJ was strapped inside the parked vehicle for hours outside the employee’s home, the family’s attorney told CNN. – Petway, French & Ford, LLP
According to a timeline provided by the family attorney, the employee went home at 12:30 p.m., leaving K.J. “strapped inside the vehicle, with all windows up and the car engine off.” He was left in the parked car outside the employee’s home for more than five hours before the day care reached out to her to ask why K.J. hadn’t returned, French said.
“The worker told law enforcement that it was only then that she realized K.J. was still in her vehicle,” French said, noting 911 was then called. K.J. was pronounced dead at 6:03 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.
“This would have never happened had K.J. been with his parents,” French added.
The Alabama Department of Human Resources said the incident occurred while the child was “in DHR custody” and “being transported by a contract provider.” The department noted its contract provider has terminated the employee.
“Due to confidentiality, DHR cannot comment further regarding the identity of the child or the exact circumstances,” the agency said in a statement Saturday.
K.J.’s father described his son as a “bright little child.”
“(He) knew how to count, knew his colors. Three years old, (he) knew all the animals,” the child’s father told CNN affiliate WVTM. “He was just joyful.”
A balloon release and memorial in support of K.J.’s family are planned for Friday, according to French.
K.J.’s death is the first hot car death in Alabama this year and he is at least the 16th child to die in a hot car nationwide in 2025, according to Amber Rollins, the director of Kids and Car Safety, a nonprofit organization dedicated to its namesake issue.
CNN’s Linda Lam contributed to this reporting.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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