DHS contract worker arrested in hot car death of 3-year-old she was driving to day care, police say

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC/Gray News) – The Department of Human Resources contract worker who is accused of leaving a 3-year-old boy in a hot car to die has been arrested.

Ke’Torrius “KJ” Starkes Jr., 3, died inside a hot car in Birmingham, Alabama, on July 22.

Kela Stanford, 54, was arrested Friday and charged with leaving a child in a vehicle.

She was booked into the Jefferson County Jail in Alabama on Friday morning and released on bond about an hour later, according to jail records.

On July 22, authorities said KJ was found alone inside a hot vehicle that was parked at a home in the 1500 block of Pine Tree Drive. He was left in the car on Tuesday for five hours, 12:30-5:30 p.m., officials said.

Birmingham police said KJ was accidentally left inside the vehicle while in the care of Stanford, who works for Covenant Services, a third-party service contracted through the Department of Human Resources.

Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service pronounced him dead at the scene.

After KJ’s death, WBRC obtained a partial audio recording of a conversation between the child’s family and Stanford.

According to the recording, Stanford – who was responsible for taking KJ to day care – admitted to forgetting that KJ was still in the back seat of the vehicle.

Stanford: “I went to the daycare. And I got sidetracked and stopped off and got something to eat, and when I came out, instead of going to the left to the daycare because I got called and said I didn’t have a case, I instantly said to myself, ‘Oh, I’m done for the day. I’m going to go home.’”

KJ’s father can be heard confronting the transporter during the call, asking how she could forget about his son. The transporter can be heard repeatedly apologizing, saying she “didn’t mean to” and that “there are not enough words to express how bad she feels.”

Another relative of KJ’s also responded during the conversation:

Relative: “This baby died in a car. He suffocated. He didn’t have no help. No nothing. You had the child safety lock on the doors. You didn’t think to look in the back seat?!”

The transporter replied:

Stanford: “No ma’am, I did not... I wouldn’t have killed no child.”

Following KJ’s death, DHR released this statement:

"A child in DHR custody was being transported by a contract provider when the incident occurred. The provider has terminated their employee. Due to confidentiality, DHR cannot comment further regarding the identity of the child or the exact circumstances."

Police said Stanford has been cooperative with the investigation.

Both KJ’s biological and foster families are struggling to understand how such a tragedy could have occurred.

KJ’s biological father told WBRC he last saw his son during a scheduled visitation the morning of his death at the DHR office in Bessemer. He had no idea it would be the final time he held his child.

“Words can’t even express how I feel right now,” he said, holding back tears. “As soon as I leave my son, the first thing he says is, ‘Daddy, I want to go with you.’ He says that every time, and it really hurts.”

KJ’s father said he typically hands his son over to a representative from Covenant Services, a private child welfare provider, who is responsible for transporting the child to day care after each visit.

But the family says when KJ’s foster mother arrived at the day care to pick him up later Tuesday, he was nowhere to be found.

As both families mourn the loss of KJ, questions remain about how a child entrusted to the care of child welfare providers could be left in a car for five hours.

“We went to the theme parks. He had a blast... We just had a great time as a family,” said Ernest Miller, a cousin from KJ’s foster family. “We were all looking forward to him growing up and being a part of this family, and now, he’s just gone.”