Stone-faced migrant daycare worker is denied bond after boy, 4, left to melt to death in 120F van for five hours

A migrant daycare worker has been denied bond after allegedly leaving a four-year-old boy to die inside a daycare van on a scorching day in Texas.

Karen Silva, 36, was arrested after Logan Urbina was found dead on June 27 in a van owned by The Learning Club Pre School in Brownsville – on a day when internal vehicle temperatures reached 120F.

Silva and fellow employee Sendy Ruiz, 38, were both charged with injury to a child causing death, a second-degree felony.

Ruiz was arraigned on a $60,000 bond and later released. Silva’s bond was initially set at $10,000, Valley Central reported.

But her case quickly became entangled with immigration proceedings.

In September, an immigration judge ordered her to be deported.

Brownsville sits on the border with Mexico, across from Matamoros, Tamaulipas – but officials have not said where Silva would be deported to.

The Cameron County district attorney’s office intervened to block the removal, keeping her in Texas to face trial. She will now remain in prison until her trial, after the judge denied her bond. No trial date has been set.

Migrant daycare worker Karen Silva, 36, has been denied bond after being accused of leaving four-year-old Logan Urbina to die inside a van in Brownsville, Texas

Four-year-old Logan Urbina was found unresponsive inside the daycare van on June 27 and pronounced dead at the scene after being left there for hours in the Texas heat

Under Texas law, the charge carries a sentence of two to 20 years in prison.

Police were called to the daycare at around 4:56 p.m. on June 27, where Logan was discovered unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene, Valley Central said.

Justice of the Peace Mary Esther Sorola told KRGV that staff had returned from a field trip at about 11:30 a.m. and left the boy in the vehicle.

Temperatures in Brownsville reached around 96F that afternoon, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration warned that the interior of a parked vehicle can soar well above 120F within minutes.

Reporters who visited the daycare days later saw the lights still on inside, but staff refused to comment.

When Channel 5 News called, the person who answered hung up when asked about Logan’s death, KRGV reported. Daily Mail contacted the daycare for comment.

One local mother said she withdrew her own child from the center in the aftermath, saying she could no longer trust the staff.

A memorial grew outside the daycare with flowers, balloons and candles left in Logan’s honor.

An immigration judge initially ordered Silva deported, but prosecutors intervened to keep her in Texas to face trial on charges of injury to a child causing death

Fellow daycare worker Sendy Ruiz, 38, was also charged with injury to a child causing death and was released on a $60,000 bond

The Learning Club Pre School in Brownsville, Texas, where Logan was left in the van, has not issued a public statement following the child’s death

‘A 4-year-old, that’s unacceptable,’ local mother Flor Cantu told KRGV.

Another parent, Marcy Velez, said she felt devastated for the family: ‘I’m so sorry for the family, and we’re just here supporting them.’

Logan’s obituary described him as a happy child who loved dinosaurs, toys and watching Paw Patrol. He was remembered as a beloved son, brother, grandson and nephew who will be ‘missed greatly by his family.’

His relatives launched a GoFundMe to help with expenses.