Russel Lindstrom

1. Father pleads guilty to 2 counts of injury to a child
2. Video countdown: Father whose daughter died interviewed
3. VIDEOS: Man whose daughter died from being in hot car expected to face judge today
4. Flint man charged in toddler death case

The father of a child who died after becoming trapped in a hot car at the family’s Flint home this past summer was sentenced to 15 years probation in a Smith County courtroom Monday morning. 

Russell Lindstrom, 34, was sentenced by state District Judge Kerry Russell Monday as part of a plea deal entered in Russell’s court last month. 

Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham said the sentences on the two felony counts of child endangerment were the maximum probations for charges relating to the death of 4-year-old Bella Rose and injuries to a younger daughter. 

On June 12, Smith County Sheriff deputies responding to a home in the Flint area found Bella unresponsive from exposure to extreme temperatures after climbing into a pickup in the family driveway with her 3-year-old sister Zoey. 

Bella died after being transported to a local hospital and Zoey recovered.

The investigation showed the girls were unsupervised for an extended period of time and were able to get in the pickup and close the door. 

Lindstrom told sheriff officials he had put the two children down for a nap and was doing some laundry in the back of the home and did not know they were missing until a family member asked about the girls. 

Lindstrom said in previous stories it was not a case of bad parenting, but losing sight of his children for a short time, which had grave results.