Thursday 23 June 2022 06:47 PM Texas boy, 5, left to die in his mom's hot car is pictured with family trends now
The distraught dad whose young son was left to die in his estranged wife's roasting hot car does not believe the mother should go to jail for the horrifying, fatal blunder.
Five-year-old Trace Means perished in sweltering 100F Texas heat on Monday after Amanda Means, 36, left him in the back of a Porsche SUV for two to three hours.
Detectives think she simply forgot that Trace was still buckled into his car seat as she headed inside their $1.4million Houston home to throw a birthday party for his eight-year-old sister.
By the time Amanda realized her mistake, the bubbly, blonde-haired youngster – pictured here for the first time in a series of heartbreaking family photos - had succumbed to suspected heat stroke.
The shell-shocked mom has not been hit with charges although the Harris County Sheriff's Office is still investigating.
DailyMail.com can reveal the five-year-old Texas boy who was left to die in his mom's sweltering hot car on Monday has been identified as Trace Means, pictured above with his parents Amanda and Steve, and his older sister, 8
Steve, 48, and Amanda Means, 36, were going through a divorce, and their son had spent Father's Day with his dad and before being dropped off at home several hours before the tragedy
It is believed Trace had still been buckled into his seat inside his mother's Porsche SUV, when she headed inside their $1.4million Houston home (pictured) to throw a birthday party for his eight-year-old sister
DailyMail.com can reveal that Trace's parents are going through a divorce and he had spent Father's Day with his dad before being dropped home several hours before Monday's tragedy.
Devastated Steve Means, 48, needs answers over his son's death but he's not rushing to conclusions or demanding the mom face charges, according to his attorney, Gary Block.
'Steve is a stand-up guy. He is in tears, he's beside himself, but the last thing he wants is for Amanda to be criminally punished. She is going through enough already,' Block explained.
'He knows that she is their mother, no matter what happened, and that there was nothing done on purpose. All he wants to do right now is make sure his daughter is OK and that everyone can begin to heal.'
Houston has sizzled in triple digit temperatures for most of this week and is expected to record its hottest ever June.
It reached as high as 102F Monday in the northeast of the city, just as Amanda was hosting a birthday party - complete with an inflatable bouncy house and slide - to mark her daughter turning eight.
The busy mom told investigators she came home from the store with her children and thought both of them had climbed out of the car, which was a loaner vehicle rather than her regular Porsche.
It was not until two to three hours later that she noticed the boy was missing and started looking for him, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
An official cause of death is yet to be released. But with the temperature inside the car likely to have exceeded 120F, it's almost certain the youngster succumbed to heatstroke which sets in at around 104F - and turns deadly at 107F.
Dad Steve, a military veteran and energy industry executive, filed for divorce in January after a decade of marriage, and had moved out of the family home, as the couple began drawing up a joint custody agreement
