BATON ROUGE - The father of a toddler found dead in a hot car last month has been arrested following an investigation that revealed he left the child in her car seat after taking her to a doctor’s appointment.

Journee Willis’ body was not discovered until after 6 p.m. on Aug. 20 when Kenneth Willis of Port Allen went to a day care on Oak Grove Drive to pick up his children. He was told only one child was there, arrest records show.

Journee was then found in his car.

"For some reason that child was never dropped back off to the caregiver. When they went to pick up the child that was dropped off, they realized that the infant was never dropped off and that infant was observed unresponsive in its car seat," BRPD Sgt. Don Coppola said.

Willis, 38, was booked with negligent homicide in his daughter’s death.

He dropped off Journee’s sibling that morning and took Journee to a doctor’s appointment, arrest records show.

Authorities say he did not bring Journee to day care after that appointment.

Willis and Journee’s mother were both at the day care hours later when her body was found in the rear-facing car seat in the back passenger side of his car.