The heartbroken mother of an adorable two-year-old girl who was left to die in a car in 105F heat has broken her silence.
Kristin Fulcher, 30, found out Ansleigh Marie Boatman had passed away on Sunday after allegedly being abandoned for nine hours by her father Joseph.
Her dad, 32, had picked her up from another relative’s house in Madisonville, Louisiana, at around 2am – but was said to have been drunk.
He is believed to have strapped her into her seat at around 2.30am before going back inside and never returning.
Fulcher, 32, revealed she could not get in touch with her ex all the next day and by 5pm ‘felt like something was wrong’. She then got the dreaded call from cops.
The pair had a custody arrangement over Ansleigh, despite Boatman being a convicted pedophile after being caught by the FBI in a huge sting operation.
Fulcher revealed she quickly fell into denial when the police called and she was sure they had got the wrong child.
It was only later she learned the truth – that little Ansleigh had been trapped in the car for nearly 10 hours as the temperature continued to climb.
Detectives soon discovered Boatman ‘consumed multiple alcoholic beverages’ before getting his daughter early that morning.
She was first told Boatman would only be charged with negligent homicide, but his charge got bumped up to second-degree murder.
Her sister Kerri Kirchner told the Daily Mail the family has been left ‘heartbroken and hurt’ but also ‘angry and p****d off’ at his ‘senseless and irresponsible’ actions.
Fulcher and Boatman finalized their custody agreement in November, and after that he had to attend eight-hour mandatory parenting classes.
He was then given the chance to attend visitations to see Ansleigh, but ‘more often than not he didn’t exercise his visits,’ she said.
The sex offender would give her ‘excuses’ for why he could not be there, she claimed. Boatman was living in Texas, but later moved to Louisiana.
He just started getting the baby regularly starting around mid-January, she said.
Boatman was allowed two weekend visits a month and could spend every spring break with his daughter.
He was also granted a 45 consecutive day visit, but Fulcher was not on board so they agreed on three weeks instead.
Boatman had picked Ansleigh up on May 23 and was supposed to hand her back to her mother on June 28.
Fulcher said her daughter’s favorite word was ‘happy,’ so much so that she used to go around the house repeating it to everyone.
Her aunt remembered her as ‘the happiest, bubbliest, sassiest little baby.’ She was the youngest of four and was best friends with her older brother, the family said.
Her aunt said her favorite thing to do was attend LSU games and walk around campus.
Boatman is being held on a $75,000 cash bond, according to his arrest report. Sheriff Randy Smith said: ‘This is a devastating loss that no family ever wants to face.
‘When a child is left in a vehicle, especially on a day when the heat index climbs over 100 degrees, the outcome can turn deadly in a matter of minutes.
‘This case involved compromised judgment, and the result was heartbreaking.’ This is not his first run-in with the law, as Boatman is also a registered sex offender.
In June 2019 Boatman was caught by the FBI – along with more than 60 others – in ‘Operation Broken Heart’, an initiative to bust child abuse in Louisiana.
Boatman was convicted for the online solicitation of a minor, according to records obtained by the Daily Mail.
Ansleigh’s funeral is set to be held on Tuesday. A church service will be held on Wednesday, followed by her burial, according to her obituary.
‘Sleep peacefully, sweet angel. You were—and always will be—so deeply loved,’ it added.
Ansleigh is the sixth child to die in a hot car in the US this year, according to Kids and Car Safety.
Every year, an average of 38 children die in hot cars and about 88 percent of them are three-year-old or younger, according to the non-profit.