Boy left in hot car dies in Paso Robles; father arrested on suspicion of murder
A 6-year-old boy died after he was left in a hot car in the midst of a record heat wave in Paso Robles on Saturday, police said, and his father has been arrested and accused of murder.
Briant Reyes Estrada, 27, is in custody at San Luis Obispo County Jail on suspicion of murder and willful harm to a child, San Luis Obispo County Assistant District Attorney Eric Dobroth confirmed to The Tribune.
The Paso Robles Police Department was notified of the child’s death around 6 p.m. by the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office after the child died at Twin Cities Hospital in Templeton, the agency said in a news release.
Officers responded to the hospital and found the child was driven to the hospital by his father, Reyes Estrada. Detectives believe the child died from possible heat-related injuries while inside the vehicle, which “may have been” parked in the Paso Robles Inn parking lot for several hours.
Paso Robles Police Chief Damian Nord told The Tribune the agency is awaiting an autopsy to confirm the child’s cause of death. The agency is also confirming exactly how long the child was in the car and how long the vehicle was parked at the Paso Robles Inn, Nord said.
The boy had attended Cambria Grammar School, Reyes Estrada’s former supervisor Matt Griffith told The Tribune. Coast Unified School District Superintendent Jill Southern said the student was not currently enrolled in classes.
Paso Robles Joint Unified School District sent out a news release that the student attended Pat Butler Elementary School and encouraged parents to have open, supportive conversations with their children. Mental health professionals will also be available on campus to support students and staff, the news release said.
Dobroth said the agency has not yet filed formal charges against Reyes Estrada but expects to soon.
The Paso Robles Police Department asks anyone with information, including anyone who was in the parking lot of the Paso Robles Inn on Saturday up until around 3:40 p.m., to call the agency at 805-227-7455. To remain anonymous, callers can contact Crime Stoppers’ 24-hour hotline at 805-549-STOP (7867) or by texting “’SLOTIPS’ plus your message’” to CRIMES (274637).
Not first time father left child in vehicle, former supervisor says
According to Griffith, who was Reyes Estrada’s former supervisor at Fireside Inn on Moonstone Beach in Cambria, this was not the first time Reyes Estrada had left his child alone in the car. Reyes Estrada worked there as a maintenance engineer, Griffith said.
Griffith said Reyes Estrada had left his son in a car multiple times, adding that Child Welfare Services was called at least twice with reports that Reyes Estrada left his child in the car. It was unclear exactly how often Reyes Estrada left his son in the car.
“Supposedly, he didn’t have a babysitter and he needed to work, so he left his kid in the car while he worked,” Griffith said.
Nord confirmed to the Tribune that he was aware of the previous child welfare investigations.
Reyes Estrada was fired from working at the Fireside Inn in September 2024, Griffith said, adding that the termination was for reasons unrelated to him leaving his child in a vehicle.
Boy left in car during Paso Robles heat wave
The death happened as Paso Robles was in the midst of a mini May heat wave on Saturday.
The temperature there reached a peak of 99 degrees on Saturday, according to meteorologist John Lindsey, breaking a record set in 1997.
According to a 2017 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fact sheet, the temperature inside a car when it is 80 degrees outside can reach 109 degrees in 20 minutes, 118 degrees in 40 minutes and 123 degrees in 60 minutes.
Nord told the Tribune cars are typically around 20 degrees hotter than the weather is outside.
“Even if you crack a window, even if you leave some form of air running through that car, that car is going to heat up far beyond what the temperature is outside of it,” Nord said. “Children, especially younger children, especially babies, their bodies aren’t capable of dealing with that.”
Father also faces charges in an earlier criminal case
Reyes Estrada also faces other criminal charges in an unrelated case earlier this year, according to court records.
He was charged with misdemeanor false impersonation, misdemeanor forging a driver’s license and two misdemeanor counts of embezzlement in February. Court records show his next hearing in that case was scheduled for June.
Griffith told The Tribune Reyes Estrada had used the name of the general manager of the Fireside Inn in order to purchase at least $1,000 of supplies from Cambria Hardware Store on the hotel’s card in the two months after he had been terminated and removed from the account. Court records show Reyes Estrada was banned from the hardware store in May.
Court documents also show Reyes Estrada’s manager filed a workplace violence restraining order petition in October following Reyes Estrada’s termination.
According to the petition, Reyes Estrada went to his manager’s house following his termination, banged on the door as he held one hand over the peephole and yelled the manager’s name.
The manager did not know how Reyes Estrada learned his address, the petition said, adding that Reyes Estrada went to the house again and “banged on the door and was shouting in Spanish and knocking aggressively on the door.”
A temporary restraining order was issued in November, court records show, and the matter was ultimately dismissed in December.
According to the petition, Reyes Estrada was fired for fixing a personal camera to his shirt and secretly recording or photographing at least one female employees.
On another occasion, the petition said, he followed a different female employee into the engineering room, locked her inside, turned off the lights and laughed when she tried to leave.
He also took secret photos of his manager during at least one meeting about Reyes Estrada’s behavior and during another had the camera fixed to his shirt with the light blinking red, the petition said.
This story was originally published May 12, 2025 at 10:56 AM.
