Georgia · Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County · Crime & Courts
Deja Coleman, Gwinnett County GA: Hot Car Death of Daniel Coleman Jr.
Deja Coleman, 29, is charged with second-degree murder after Lawrenceville police say her 1-year-old son was left in her car for about nine hours on July 29. A judge signed a furlough order. Deputies took her to a private viewing seven hours before the service and returned her to jail before relatives arrived. She is charged, not convicted.
Key facts
- What
- A mother is charged with murder after police say her 1-year-old son was left in a car outside the hospital where she works
- Who died
- Daniel Coleman Jr., 1 — called Carter by his family
- Charged
- Deja Coleman, 29, the boy's mother
- Charges
- Second-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to children
- When
- July 29, 2026
- Where
- The employee lot at Northside Hospital Gwinnett
- Lead agency
- Lawrenceville Police Department
- Custody
- Held without bond, Gwinnett County Jail
- Latest
- Escorted from jail to a mortuary for a 45-minute private visit on Saturday, Aug. 15, hours before the funeral service
- Next
- Bond hearing set for Sept. 9, Gwinnett County Superior Court
- Presumption
- Coleman is charged, not convicted. Nothing has been proven in court
- What happened on the day of the funeral?
- What is Deja Coleman charged with?
- What do police say happened on July 29?
- Who was Daniel Coleman Jr.?
- How did the funeral furlough come about?
- What happened at the Aug. 11 hearing?
- Which agencies are handling the case?
- What happens next in the case?
- What we don't know yet
- Frequently asked questions
- Sources
What happened on the day of the funeral?
Deja Coleman, 29, has been charged with second-degree murder since the day her son died in her car outside the hospital where she works. On the day of his funeral, a judge let her out of jail for part of the morning.
Coleman left the Gwinnett County Jail on Saturday, Aug. 15, under a judge's order that allowed her to grieve her son while staying in custody. She was not in the room when the service began.
Deputies drove her to Hollifield Mortuary in northwest Atlanta at 6 a.m., seven hours ahead of the 1 p.m. service, FOX 5 Atlanta reported, citing mortuary employees and her attorney. She was in jail clothing, with in handcuffs and leg shackles, attorney Tom Ford told WSB-TV. “She was alone in that room for 45 minutes,” Ford said.
Relatives who arrived for the afternoon service learned she had already been taken back to jail, FOX 5 reported. Her father, Beny Williamson, told the station he did not understand the timing. “But I just wish she was here, that's all,” he said.
The Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office told FOX 5 it could not discuss the specifics of the transport, pointing to security and operational considerations. Ford said Coleman told him she was grateful she had been allowed to go.
What is Deja Coleman charged with?
Two counts: second-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to children. Lawrenceville police detectives filed them on the day her son died, WSB-TV reported.
Coleman is charged, not convicted. No trial has been held, no evidence has been tested in front of a jury, and she is presumed innocent unless and until the state proves its case in court. She is being held without bond, WSB-TV reported.
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What do police say happened on July 29?
Coleman has three children and drove all of them toward daycare that Wednesday morning, she told officers, according to WSB-TV. She walked her 6-year-old and 4-year-old inside. The 1-year-old stayed in the car.
She then drove to Northside Hospital Gwinnett, where she worked as a nursing assistant, parked in the employee lot and started her shift just before 7 a.m., investigators told WSB-TV. The boy was in the vehicle for roughly nine hours.
Another hospital employee returning to her own car at about 3:50 p.m. saw the child and called 911, police said, according to WSB-TV. Officers who were working off duty at the hospital broke a window to reach him. He had already died.
Lawrenceville police Capt. Dena Pauly said the reading taken inside the vehicle an hour after the boy was removed was 117 degrees. Pauly described a morning routine that did not hold that day: “Her normal routine is to take the older kids into daycare, come back and retrieve the baby out of the car seat,” she said. Detectives said they believe Coleman was overwhelmed rather than distracted, WSB-TV reported, and Pauly said Coleman was “devastated” when officers told her.
Who was Daniel Coleman Jr.?
He was the youngest of Coleman's three children. WSB-TV reported that the family calls him Carter. His age has been given two ways: WSB-TV and FOX 5 have each described him as 1 year old in some reports and as 17 months old in others.
His two older siblings are in the custody of their father, police told WSB-TV.
How did the funeral furlough come about?
A Superior Court judge signed the order on Friday, Aug. 14, WSB-TV reported. It was a temporary furlough rather than the bond her attorney had sought, and the sheriff's office would escort her, Atlanta News First reported. Deputies would handle the transport in both directions, and she would stay in their custody for the duration, WSB-TV reported.
Ford said he had spent that Friday meeting privately with county officials at the courthouse, and that the sheriff's office, the court and the prosecutor all signed off, Atlanta News First reported. The order itself left the security arrangements to the sheriff — how many deputies would go, and whether she would be restrained. “I've asked that she be allowed to mourn inside the church with family, not cuffed,” Ford told WSB-TV before the service.
Who moved first on the furlough is disputed. WSB-TV reported that the request came from the state, and that prosecutors wrote in an emergency motion that they had “verbally agreed to consent to a funeral furlough” the day after the arrest, and that the defense never returned a signed order. The Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office told Atlanta News First that Ford never filed a motion seeking permission for Coleman to attend. Ford rejects that account and says prosecutors moved only after he took the case public. “The state's motion to suggest that I was foot dragging is offensive to me as a counselor,” he told Atlanta News First.
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What happened at the Aug. 11 hearing?
Coleman appeared in court on Tuesday, Aug. 11. Ford asked the judge to dismiss the murder count outright. “Murder, this is not,” he said, FOX 5 reported.
The judge said she did not have the authority to decide bond, and explained that the purpose of a preliminary hearing is to determine whether there is probable cause to move a case forward, FOX 5 reported. Coleman waived the preliminary hearing, which sent the case to Gwinnett County Superior Court, FOX 5 reported.
Ford has pressed the district attorney to reduce the charge, arguing the death was unintentional and that his client had gone without sleep. “There's not any other reason other than being tired. We don't lock people up because they're tired,” he told WSB-TV. He has also said the boy was teething on the night of July 28 and that Coleman was awake with him for much of it.
Which agencies are handling the case?
The Lawrenceville Police Department, a city agency inside Gwinnett County, investigated the death and filed the charges. The Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office is prosecuting. The Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office runs the jail and handled Saturday's transport.
What happens next in the case?
A bond hearing is set for Sept. 9, FOX 5 and WSB-TV both reported. Coleman remains in the Gwinnett County Jail until then.
What we don't know yet
- Whether a grand jury has been presented with the case, and whether the counts will change
- What the medical examiner determined as the cause and manner of death
- Whether the district attorney will respond to the request to reduce the charge
- The boy's exact age — accounts give both 1 year and 17 months
- Why deputies brought Coleman to the mortuary seven hours before the service
- Which judge signed the furlough order, and which judge will hear bond on Sept. 9
- What Coleman herself has said about the day, beyond what her attorney has described
Frequently asked questions
Who is Deja Coleman?
Deja Coleman, 29, is the mother of Daniel Coleman Jr. She is charged with second-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to children in his death. She is charged, not convicted.
Does a charge mean she is guilty?
No. A charge is an accusation. Coleman has not been convicted, no trial has been held, and she is presumed innocent unless and until the state proves its case in court.
What do police say happened on July 29, 2026?
Lawrenceville police say Coleman took her two older children into daycare, drove to her job at Northside Hospital Gwinnett and did not bring her 1-year-old inside. The boy was in the vehicle for about nine hours, WSB-TV reported.
Who found the boy?
Another hospital employee returning to her own car at about 3:50 p.m. called 911, WSB-TV reported. Officers who were working off duty at the hospital broke a window to reach him.
How hot was the car?
Lawrenceville police Capt. Dena Pauly said the reading taken inside the vehicle an hour after the boy was removed was 117 degrees, WSB-TV reported.
What was the boy's name?
Daniel Coleman Jr. WSB-TV reported that his family calls him Carter. His age has been reported two ways: 1 year old and 17 months.
Was Coleman allowed to attend the funeral?
A Superior Court judge signed a furlough order on Friday, Aug. 14. Deputies took her to the mortuary at 6 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15, seven hours before the 1 p.m. service, FOX 5 Atlanta reported. She was returned to jail before the service.
Where was the funeral held?
Hollifield Mortuary in northwest Atlanta, FOX 5 Atlanta reported.
Is Coleman in jail?
Yes. WSB-TV reported that she is being held without bond at the Gwinnett County Jail.
When is she next in court?
Sept. 9, for a bond hearing.
Which agency investigated?
The Lawrenceville Police Department. The Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office is prosecuting, and the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office runs the jail and handled the funeral transport.
What does her attorney say?
Tom Ford has asked for the murder charge to be dismissed and describes the death as an accident. “Murder, this is not,” he said at the Aug. 11 hearing, FOX 5 Atlanta reported.
Sources
- FOX 5 Atlanta — the 6 a.m. mortuary transport and the 1 p.m. service; Hollifield Mortuary; the 45-minute visit and restraints; Beny Williamson's account; the sheriff's office response; Ford's motion to dismiss and the “Murder, this is not” quote; the waived preliminary hearing and the Sept. 9 bond hearing
- WSB-TV — the boy's name; Ford's “alone in that room” account of the mortuary visit
- WSB-TV — the order signed Friday, Aug. 14; deputies' custody throughout; the state's emergency motion and the “verbally agreed” language; Ford's response; held without bond; the Sept. 9 bond hearing; the July 28 night and the nine hours on July 29
- WSB-TV — the 6:55 a.m. shift start; the 3:50 p.m. 911 call; off-duty officers breaking a window; the 117-degree reading; Capt. Pauly's account of the routine; the 6-year-old and 4-year-old
- WSB-TV — the arrest at the hospital; Coleman's account to officers about the daycare trip; “devastated”; the older children in their father's custody
- WSB-TV — the Aug. 11 hearing; the push for a lesser charge; the family's name for the boy; her work as a nursing assistant; the “being tired” quote
- Atlanta News First — the furlough rather than bond; Ford's Friday meeting at the courthouse; the district attorney's office saying no motion was filed; the “foot dragging” quote
Compiled by The Local Alert Georgia Staff from named news outlets, each linked above. The Local Alert is not a law enforcement agency and not a law firm. Deja Coleman has been charged and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. No one else has been accused in this case. Corrections and removal requests: see our corrections policy.
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