PHOENIX -- A mother who left her 17-month-old son in the car for at least seven hours while she worked at a west Phoenix Hooters was charged with negligent homicide in the child's death.

Baby Dies In Car As Mom Works

Ashly Duchene, 22, told police she had forgotten the boy was in the car, KPHO in Phoenix reported.

Police said Duchene had planned to drop her son, Ryan, off at day care before heading to work at the restaurant.

Instead, officers said, Duchene went straight to work with the toddler still in the vehicle.

She arrived at work at 10 a.m., and when her shift ended around 5 p.m., she discovered Ryan was inside the vehicle and was unresponsive, investigators said.

Authorities pronounced the child dead.

The high temperature in Phoenix on Tuesday was 89 degrees. Readings inside the vehicle reached upwards of 110 degrees, authorities said.

Police said the windows of Duchene's silver Honda Civic were tinted, making it difficult for anyone to tell a child was inside.

"She's probably feeling an overwhelming sense of guilt," said Michelle Fritz, a crisis counselor with the Phoenix Fire Department.

"She's probably nervous about what her parents are going to think," Fritz said.

Nationwide, 32 children die every year after being left unattended in motor vehicles, according to researchers at San Francisco State University.