Connecticut mother reveals how she forgave husband after toddler died in sizzling automobile


A Connecticut mom is sharing her “eight-year-long journey” to forgive her husband after he left their 15-month-old son in a sizzling automobile in July 2014, killing the toddler, in her new guide, “The Present of Ben.”

That morning, July 7, on the household’s Ridgefield residence, began identical to every other however led to tragedy. 

Lindsey and Kyle Seitz had a routine.

“We scurried about as I rushed the women alongside of their preparation for vocational Bible Faculty. Cereal. Garments. Brush your tooth,” Lindsey Seitz recollects in her guide.

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Ben Seitz wearing a

Ben, their solely son, was a “daddy’s boy” who spent that morning with Kyle whereas Lindsey bought their two ladies prepared. (Lindsey Seitz)

Ben, their solely son, who had massive blue eyes and a full head of blond hair, was a “daddy’s boy” who had spent that morning with Kyle whereas Lindsey bought their two ladies prepared. Lindsey may hear Kyle blowing raspberries on Ben’s stomach, making the 15-month-old boy giggle. 

“You are too fairly to be a boy,” Lindsey stated as she checked out Ben that morning.

“I keep in mind kissing him on the leg, and one query I’ve in my thoughts that I will by no means be capable of overlook is did I inform him I beloved him? As a result of … we at all times assume we’ve a lot extra time with folks. I keep in mind that I did, however I am not 100% certain. That is at all times a reminiscence and a query that lives behind my thoughts,” Lindsey informed Alokito Mymensingh 24 Digital.

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Lindsey drove the women to Bible college on that “sweltering sizzling” day whereas Kyle drove Ben to day care, as was his every day routine, earlier than he stopped to get espresso after which went into work.

Ben Seitz gets kisses on the cheeks from his sisters

“We scurried about as I rushed the women alongside of their preparation for vocational Bible Faculty. Cereal. Garments. Brush your tooth,” Lindsey Seitz recollects in her guide. (Lindsey Seitz)

Lindsey recalled driving by the espresso store and seeing his automobile parked there sooner than regular.

“I see your automobile,” she texted him.

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Lindsey wonders now why she did not textual content, “Wow, you dropped off Ben quick,” or, “How was drop-off?” as an alternative.

Later that day, after work, Kyle drove his son’s day care heart to select up Ben. “

The place’s Ben?” he requested, and the day care suppliers knowledgeable him that Ben had not been dropped off that morning. Kyle continued to go looking the rooms of the day care anyway till it dawned on him.

'The Gift of Ben' book cover

“Kyle forgot to take him to day care that morning. He handed away within the automobile, sitting within the parking zone of my husband’s workplace,” Lindsey wrote in her guide, “The Present of Ben.” (Lindsey Seitz)

“Kyle forgot to take him to day care that morning. He handed away within the automobile, sitting within the parking zone of my husband’s workplace,” Lindsey writes in her guide.

On the hospital that night, after employees knowledgeable the Seitzes that their son “did not make it,” Lindsey wrapped her arms round her husband and instantly informed him that she beloved him. She couldn’t fathom the simultaneous guilt and grief he was feeling.

Seitz informed Alokito Mymensingh 24 Digital she felt “unconditional love” for her husband in her coronary heart in that second, however forgiving him in her thoughts was a for much longer course of — a course of she labored out whereas writing her guide.

What adopted over the following yr included persistent media inquiries, a police investigation and questions from Division of Kids and Households (DCF), which Seitz stated she is grateful for looking back. However it made the grieving course of harder. She was in “survival mode” for months after Ben’s dying.

The Seitz family

Seitz informed Alokito Mymensingh 24 Digital she felt “unconditional love” for her husband in her coronary heart after their son died, however forgiving him in her thoughts was a for much longer course of. (Lindsey Seitz)

The guide’s message focuses extra on unconditional love and forgiveness than the tragedy her household skilled greater than eight years in the past, Seitz stated.

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“The guts and the thoughts are two various things,” she stated. “I noticed, trying again, that we’re 100% … companions, and we had been meant to be collectively on this life to assist one another by laborious occasions and educate one another the teachings we would have liked to study. … I do not know if it was forgiveness within the second, however it was an amazing love for him.”

Lindsey added that she “at all times knew” she would “by no means be capable of dwell with out” Kyle. 

Lindsey and Ben Seitz

Lindsey would “by no means be capable of dwell with out” Kyle. (Lindsey Seitz)

In her coronary heart, “there was unconditional love and instantaneous forgiveness,” however it took her thoughts almost eight years to catch up. 

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“I began rationalizing: How may this occur? Due to my husband’s actions, my son’s now handed away. How can I intellectually forgive him for one thing like that?” she stated. “And that is been an eight-year-long journey. I’ve forgiven him by our unconditional love, however it has been a journey of religion — an inside course of that I’ve needed to undergo for a few years.”

Lindsey famous that she has struggled with bipolar dysfunction and manic despair since her early 20s, and Kyle was there to assist her when she was working by methods to deal with her psychological sickness. 

Ben Seitz plays outside

Writing and publishing “The Present of Ben” has been a means for them to grieve collectively in a means they’d not been capable of after Ben’s dying. (Lindsey Seitz)

Writing and publishing “The Present of Ben” has been a means for them to grieve collectively in a means they’d not been capable of after Ben’s dying.

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Lindsey now works with Youngsters and Automotive Security, an advocacy group that estimates greater than 1,050 kids have died of heatstroke in vehicles since 1990. A portion of the proceeds from Seitz’s guide will go to Youngsters and Automotive Security and the Nationwide Alliance on Psychological Sickness.

She has additionally advocated for the passage of the Scorching Automobiles Act of 2021, which requires new automobile fashions to alert drivers when there’s weight within the backseat once they flip off their automobiles.

Peter Johnson