California father pleads not guilty to felony child abuse after 1-year-old girl found dead in car

LOS ANGELES - The father of a 1-year-old girl found dead in a car in Los Angeles County pleaded not guilty to child abuse resulting in death.

What we know:

On Tuesday, Sept. 9 at around 3:10 p.m., deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Marina del Rey station responded to a report of a child not breathing in the 300 block of Chanson Drive in the View Park neighborhood. 

Responding deputies found a child unresponsive in a vehicle. The child was pronounced dead at the scene. 

The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner identified the child on Wednesday as Maeve Blankeley-Johnson. 

The child's father, Edwin Johnson, 40, was arrested. According to the LA County DA's office, he was charged with a felony count of child abuse resulting in death.

According to online jail records, he was released on bond after posting $25,000 bail. But a new record indicates he was arrested again Wednesday morning and booked on suspicion of murder. He is being held in lieu of $2 million bail. 

Fast-forward to Monday, September 15, it was revealed that Johnson pleaded not guilty to the aforementioned felony charge.

What we don't know:

A cause of death for the child was not listed by the medical examiner.

The sheriff's department has not stated whether the child was left in a hot car, but the activist group Kids and Car Safety reported that the girl was the 29th hot car-related death in the U.S. and fifth in California this year.

What you can do:

Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. To provide information anonymously, you can call "Crime Stoppers" at (800) 222-TIPS (8477), use the "P3 Tips" mobile app, or visit the Crime Stoppers website.