A Belcamp father is charged with second-degree murder after his 6-month-old daughter was left in a hot pickup truck for nearly five hours this summer and died.

Richard Dalton, 29, will face murder, manslaughter, reckless endangerment and child neglect charges during his March 3 trial in Harford County Circuit Court.

Representation for Dalton could not be immediately reached for comment.

A police narrative in court records shows that before leaving for work on July 6, Dalton drove his infant daughter to his mother’s house in Belcamp. He briefly talked with his mother before one of the employees at his power-washing business picked him up for jobs in Middle River and Baltimore.

Dalton’s mother thought the infant was staying with the infant’s mother — Dalton’s longtime girlfriend — in Abingdon, according to police.

The young girl remained strapped to her infant safety seat behind the tinted windows of a 2015 Chevy Silverado at Dalton’s mother’s house in 88-degree heat, police wrote.

When Dalton arrived home around 9 p.m., he asked his mother where his daughter was, and the mother responded she “had not seen her all afternoon,” the police narrative said. Dalton immediately rushed outside to his truck and began rendering CPR on his unresponsive daughter.

The girl was taken to the Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead around 10:30 p.m.

Nearly three months later, Dalton was indicted in Harford County Circuit Court and an arrest warrant was issued Oct. 5. A judge held him without bond, but he was released on home detention Jan. 16 following another hearing.

“[Evidence] clearly shows that absolutely no intentional conduct was involved by the defendant with regard to the death of his daughter,” attorney Charles Waechter, who represents Dalton, wrote in court documents.

Dalton is scheduled for a pretrial conference March 2 and a trial the following day.

Maryland has seen 16 children die as a result of hot cars from 1990 to 2025, according to data from Kids and Cars Safety, a nonprofit dedicated to saving the lives of children around motor vehicles.

Criminal charges in cases of this type can vary by jurisdiction. An analysis by Kids and Cars found 43% of people involved in child hot car deaths are not charged, according to data from 1990 to 2024.

In May 2025, a 2-year-old girl died after being left in a car in Silver Spring, according to the Montgomery County Department of Police. The case was not investigated as a homicide.

In a similar case from Baltimore County in 2006, a father was charged with child abuse, reckless endangerment and confining an unattended child after his 1-year-old died.

A change in routine, forgetfulness and tiredness are three components to tragedies like this happening, Julie Siejack, a clinical nurse manager for community outreach at the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health and a child passenger safety technician, previously told The Aegis.

Bryna Zumer contributed to this article.

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