BAKER COUNTY, Fla. – A Baker County jury will hear closing arguments Friday in the trial of a babysitter accused of the hot car death of a 10-month-old child.

Rhonda Jewell, 46, is charged with death 10-month-old Ariya Paige in Baker County in July 2023.

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On Thursday, Jewell testified in his own defense as he stood trial on negligent homicide and child neglect charges.

Investigators Paige Left unattended in SUV for five hours On a summer day when the temperature rises above 100 degrees.

Jewell admitted that she realized she left Ariya in the SUV when the baby’s mother, Brooke Paige, came to pick him up.

RELATING TO: The joyful life and tragic death of baby Ariya

“That’s when I realized I hadn’t taken the baby out of the car,” Jewell said through tears on the stand Thursday. “I left the baby in the car… and I ran to the car, opened the door, and he was still there. Ariya was still in the backseat.”

Jewell told the court she started looking after children as a babysitter when she was 17, but took a break when she had children of her own.

She said that she did not start babysitting again until 2017, and that she took care of the children she cared for as if they were her own.

“I loved her like she was my own child,” Jewell said of her relationship with Ariya.

She said she considers Ariya’s grandmother, Monique Carter, her best friend and talked about her relationship with Ariya’s mother, Brooke.

“I was there for baby showers and weddings. “Like any baby, I gravitated towards it,” Jewell said.

The detective came to the hospital where Ariya was taken and talked about the child’s condition.

RELATED | ‘Justice for Ariya’: Parents of 10-month-old boy killed in hot car remember ‘daddy’s girl’

He said he was kept in a climate-controlled environment, but despite efforts to cool his body, Ariya’s internal and external temperatures were over 100 degrees.

He said when he interviewed Jewell, Jewell said he forgot to take Ariya out of the SUV because he was distracted with thoughts about a family event.

A medical examiner said the child died of hyperthermia, and a firefighter who testified said the temperature in the SUV was 133 degrees.

In April, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill named after Ariya We declare April as “Hot Car Fatalities Prevention Month.”