She Died Alone in a Hot Car While Her Mom Got High and Had Sex Just Feet Away — and She Couldn’t Even Cry for Help

After spending nearly six hours unattended in the back seat of her mother’s car on a hot South Carolina day, 13-year-old Cristina Pangalangan died with blistered skin and a soiled diaper.

The girl, who had cerebral palsy, used a wheelchair and was non-verbal, died of hyperthermia as temperatures inside the vehicle reached up to 135 degrees in the summer of 2019, according to a press release from the 14th Circuit Solicitor’s Office in Colleton County, S.C.

Meanwhile, her mother, Rita Pangalangan, and her boyfriend, Larry King Jr., were just a few feet away, inside King’s home. Prosecutors said the couple, who were in the midst of a multi-day methamphetamine binge, tortured Cristina by leaving her alone in the sweltering car for five hours and 42 minutes on Aug. 15, 2019. 

Footage captured on King’s home surveillance camera showed King and Rita “arguing, rocking on a porch swing and embracing lustily inside the home’s front doorway throughout the afternoon,” the release states. At one point, they went inside for nearly an hour and had sex, King later admitted.

About four hours after Cristina was put in the vehicle, King and Rita learned they were locked out of the car. The pair then traveled to Rita’s house – in King’s pickup truck — to get a spare key fob, per the release.

By the time Cristina was removed from the car, she was dead. Her body temperature was recorded at 109.9 — the highest reading the coroner’s office’s thermometer can read, prosecutors said. Vomit was also found in Cristina’s lungs, suggesting she breathed in stomach fluids as her body shut down, according to a forensic pathologist who testified at the couple’s trial.

In September 2023, a jury found Rita, 53, and King, 45, guilty of murder and inflicting great bodily injury on a child in connection with Cristina’s hyperthermia death, per the release. Rita was sentenced to 37 years in prison and King to 32 years. Both are also serving concurrent 20-year sentences for the abuse charge.

“Cristina couldn’t scream, and she couldn’t open the car door for herself,” Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone said of the girl, who also had developmental and seizure disorders.

“Perhaps the most appalling thing demonstrated by the surveillance video is that this helpless girl died while these two self-absorbed, drug-addled defendants were often no more than a few feet away,” Stone added, per the release. “It would have taken only minimal care and attention to save her life.”

At the time of her arrest, Rita was a teacher with the Colleton County School District and resigned from her position on Aug. 13, 2019, a notice from the state Board of Education shows. Following her conviction, Rita’s teaching license was permanently revoked. She had over 25 years of teaching experience, the board said.

“My mom, she loved Cristina so much, and she’s a good mom,” Rita’s other daughter, Elizabeth Clyde, said in court after her mother’s conviction, per KCRG-TV. “She would often say that God created her to be Cristina’s mom because she was tough and she could handle it.”

She also said her mother “made sure Cristina had whatever she needed” and that Cristina was “her whole world.”

But an 18-year-old witness testified during the trial that just three days before Cristina’s death, Rita asked her to babysit Cristina for a few hours, per the release. She claimed she was left with no groceries and Rita did not return until two nights later.

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Rita’s former roommate also testified that she often tried to force her into caring for Cristina on short notice. On one occasion, she refused because she had to go to work, but Rita was persistent.

“She told me to leave Cristina in my car with the windows down because she does it all the time,” the roommate testified, according to prosecutors.

In August 2022, a wrongful death and survival action lawsuit was filed on behalf of Cristina’s estate and named Rita and King as defendants, records reviewed by PEOPLE show.

A year earlier, a separate lawsuit was filed against the state Department of Social Services, alleging that the department “had been notified numerous times regarding the inappropriate care provided to Cristina by her mother,” and did not keep her safe, FITS News reported, citing the complaint.

By October 2024, a settlement tied to both lawsuits had been reached totaling around $314,000, per the settlement reviewed by PEOPLE. Of that amount, the Department of Social Services paid $195,000 to Cristina’s estate.

In her obituary, Cristina was remembered as a “purely loving and wonderful soul” who loved watching cartoons.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.