Father accused of leaving SLO County child in hot car enters plea in murder case
The father who allegedly left his 6-year-old child in a car in the midst of a heat wave in Paso Robles pleaded not guilty to murder and child abuse charges Wednesday.
Briant Reyes Estrada, 27, was arrested Sunday after his child died in the hospital on Saturday of suspected heat-related injuries. He was charged with murder and willful harm to a child on Tuesday.
Reyes Estrada is alleged to have left his child in his vehicle in the parking lot of the Paso Robles Inn on Saturday, according to the Paso Robles Police Department.
The temperature there reached a peak of 99 degrees on Saturday, according to meteorologist John Lindsey, breaking a record set in 1997.
It is unclear at this time exactly how long the child may have been left in the vehicle, and Paso Robles Police Chief Damian Nord told The Tribune the agency is awaiting an autopsy to determine the boy’s cause of death.
Officers responded to the hospital around 6 p.m. and found the child had been driven to the hospital by his father, Reyes Estrada.
Reyes Estrada pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday. The next court hearing was scheduled for May 22.
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)
Reyes Estrada was previously charged with misdemeanor false impersonation, misdemeanor forging a driver’s license and two misdemeanor counts of embezzlement in February.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Wednesday that Reyes Estrada was undocumented and could have been detained on April 29, when he was arrested for the February misdemeanor charges, but that California’s sanctuary state laws prevented the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office from holding Reyes Estrada for Immigration Customs and Enforcement.
Reyes Estrada’s attorney Patrick Fisher, however, told The Tribune the U.S. Attorney’s Office and other people were using the child’s death as a prop for political rants expressing frustrations with immigration policy, calling the debate “shameful.”
Father previously reported to Child Welfare Services multiple times, former coworkers say
According to Matt Griffith, Reyes Estrada’s former supervisor at the Fireside Inn on Moonstone Beach in Cambria, this was not the first time Reyes Estrada had left his child in the car.
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.
Another former Fireside Inn coworker who declined to be named for privacy reasons told The Tribune that when she saw the child in the vehicle, she alerted a friend who worked at Cambria Grammar School and was a mandated reporter. She said she did not want the report to be tied back to her.
The mandated reporter went to the hotel, saw the child in the car and filed a report with Child Welfare Services, the former coworker said. She said her friend did not receive any follow-up from the agency. The former coworker said the report was near the end of September, just before Reyes Estrada’s termination from the inn.
The former coworker said she was also aware of additional reports to Child Welfare Services at the school but it was unclear what those reports were for.
Reyes Estrada was fired from his job 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.
The former coworker said she and her friend at the school worried about the child when they learned Reyes Estrada was moving to Paso Robles.
“It was only a matter of time before he leaves his kid in the car in Paso and something bad was going to happen,” the former coworker said. “It was kind of inevitable. It was going to happen.”
Nord confirmed to the Tribune that he was aware of the previous child welfare investigations.
Deputy Director for the San Luis Obispo County Department of Social Services Nancy Kuster, who oversees Child Welfare Services, told The Tribune the agency is investigating the child’s death. She could not confirm or deny previous child welfare services reports due to confidentiality.
Kuster said that when a report is made, the agency will evaluate to see whether it rises to the legal definition of neglect or abuse.
If a report reaches the threshold, then it will be investigated, she said. But if it does not it will be “evaluated out.” She added that several factors can contribute to whether a report meets that threshold.
She said she expects the agency to have the investigation into the May 10 incident done with in 30 days or less.
“We’re all coming from a good place and were all taking this very seriously,” Kuster said.
The child was a student at Pat Butler Elementary School at the time of his death, but he previously attended Cambria Grammar School.
Paso Robles Unified School District Assistant to the Superintendent Rebecca Justice and Coast Unified School District Superintendent Jill Southern told The Tribune they could not comment on whether district employees had filed child welfare reports due to the ongoing investigation.
“Our thoughts remain with all impacted by this heartbreaking situation,” Southern added.
This story was originally published May 14, 2025 at 2:43 PM.
