A California mother who left her two young sons strapped in a hot car while she underwent a cosmetic procedure has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison after one of the children died.
Maya Hernandez, 20, of Visalia, was sentenced Thursday to 15 years to life in prison after pleading no contest last month to involuntary manslaughter in the death of her 1-year-old son, Amillio Gutierrez.
Prosecutors say Hernandez left Amillio and his 2-year-old brother locked in a parked car on June 29, 2025, as temperatures soared to 101 degrees in the area, while she went inside a medical spa in Bakersfield for lip filler injections.
During her Hernandez’s hearing, the boys’ grandmother Katie Martinez said the sentence would never make up for the loss of her grandson, Amillio.
“15 years doesn’t look like enough,” said Martinez. “Our city wept for our Amillio.” We will have a lifetime without Amillio,” she continued. “We’ll never attend graduation, birthday parties or even have him sitting at the kitchen table watching him eat a simple meal.”
In December, a jury found Hernandez guilty on two counts of child endangerment but was deadlocked on second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter charges, leading to a mistrial on those counts. The murder charge was later dismissed as part of the plea deal.
According to an affidavit previously reported by KERO, Hernandez had called the med spa earlier that morning and asked if she could bring her children inside. A staff member told her, “Sure, if you don’t mind them waiting in the waiting room, hun.”
Instead, authorities say Hernandez left both boys in their car seats while she filled out paperwork and underwent the cosmetic procedure.
Although the injections reportedly lasted about 15 to 20 minutes, investigators said Hernandez was away from the car for roughly two and a half hours and never checked on the children.
When she returned to the vehicle around 4:30 p.m., Amillio was foaming at the mouth and appeared to be having a seizure. Spa employees rushed outside to help and brought the older child inside to cool him with water.
Amillio’s body temperature had reached 107 degrees, and he was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at 5:48 p.m. His brother survived and was later placed in protective custody.
Hernandez told police she believed the children would be safe because she had left the air conditioning running in her 2022 Toyota Corolla hybrid. But the vehicle is equipped with an automatic shut-off feature that turns the engine off after one hour, according to an expert cited in the criminal complaint obtained by Law & Crime. Investigators estimate the boys were left without air conditioning for at least 90 minutes.
The criminal complaint states that when Hernandez was informed of her son’s death, she “admitted that she knew it was irresponsible to leave her kids in the car” and “thought about it when she got out of the car but had no justification as to why she left them anyway.”
During the trial, investigators said Hernandez had left the children in the car with snacks, cartoons playing on her phone and the air conditioning running.
Family members of the boys said the loss has devastated them.
“They were strapped in their car seats. They couldn’t even get up to save themselves,” their grandmother told ABC7. “She literally locked them in their car seats and shut their doors.”
Amillio’s father, Rosendo Guiterrez, who was incarcerated on unrelated charges at the time of the incident, said he learned of the tragedy from a jail chaplain.
“Those were my boys. I really loved them,” Guiterrez said. “I think I let them down ‘cause I wasn’t there to save them.”
After the sentencing, he told BakersfieldNow that he believes the punishment is too light.
“I just don’t think 15 years is enough. From experiencing going to jail, I know there’s a lot of programs that could get her out,” Gutierrez said. “This should have never happened… it just kills me.”
As he handed down the sentence, Judge Charles Brehmer noted Hernandez has already served more than 280 days in custody during the case. He also acknowledged the lasting impact of the child’s death.
“Maya is going to prison. She already has a life sentence because of the loss of Amilio,” the judge said. “Amilio won’t be forgotten.”
