Michael Shannon Thedford is said to have dropped off his other two children – aged five and three – at a day care centre in Melissa, Texas, before returning home with his newborn in the minivan.
The affidavit obtained by KDFW claims Thedford went into the house for a nap, not waking up for at least three hours, whilst his daughter was still in the car.
Having discovered his six-month-old was still in the minivan, it is reported that he “placed the girl in the refrigerator for an undetermined length of time” before calling the police, according to the statement.
Capt. Jim Moody of the Collin County Sheriff’s Department has said that deputies were called around 1:30pm to the family home, hours after Thedford returned home from the nursery.
Thedford apparently told the police that he had forgotten she was in the van, and when he found her she was stiff and “hot as a brick”.
The father-of-three had apparently attempted to perform CPR on his daughter, but was not successful.
A neighbour from across the street told CBS DFW: “They used a Mickey Mouse type of doll for him to show what happened and now that I think about it, they also were measuring from the van to the door now that I remember.”
Neighbour Fabiola Contreras also told them that Thedford is a substitute teacher and it is “hard to believe” he would do something like that.
The official high temperature in North Texas on that day was 32C, one of the hottest days so far in 2016 for the area.
Thedford has been now been released from jail after posting his $20,000 bond.