Tragedy unfolded just days after grandmother proudly shared this photo of adorable newborn grandson

This is the haunting moment a proud grandmother shared a photo of her newborn grandson – only a week before the boy’s mother allegedly left the infant to die in a roasting car. 

Grandmother Tonya Luncsford beamed with joy as she held baby Grayson up for the camera in a photo posted to her Facebook account on September 9.

A week later, on September 16, the newborn was dead from ‘hyperthermia, severe dehydration, and gross neglect’ in Peoria, Illinois, authorities said.  The child had been left for at least four hours in a U-Haul truck rented by his mother, Andrea Luncsford.

Andrea, a 26-year-old OnlyFans model from Peoria, had been driving the vehicle for days after the funeral of Grayson’s father on September 14, 25 News reported.

Grayson’s grandfather begged his daughter to leave the child with his grandparents only hours before the infant was found dead.

‘You know that baby can overheat and die, please let us help you, from dad to mom,’ he texted his daughter, according to Fox 2 News.

Grayson’s mother, Andrea Luncsford, 26, has been charged with the newborn’s murder

Grandfather Andrew Luncsford tracked his daughter down to a home in Peoria’s East Bluff, where he found his grandson unconscious and not breathing in the truck on the night of September 9.

He called emergency responders, who found Grayson lying in the grass of a yard and tried to revive him before declaring him dead at the scene.

When police arrived, they found Grayson’s mother behaving ‘erratically,’ and she later tested positive for cocaine.

Andrew told police that his daughter had ignored his messages that day before telling him that the baby had stopped breathing.

When the grandparents arrived, he said she tried to drive off before they could take the baby out of the van.

The mother, who has a criminal record dating back to 2019, had already been taken into custody on suspicion of endangering Grayson. She was spoken to by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services on September 6.

The agency had launched an investigation into ‘substantial risk of physical injury or environment,’ according to spokesperson Deborah Lopez.

The mother appeared delighted after delivering her 6lb, 11oz son on August 4, posting pictures of the newborn on her Facebook page.

Grayson’s father, Michael Eastwood Jr., 26, also filled his profile with photos of his ‘little man’ as Grayson turned a month old on September 4,

The OnlyFans model from Peoria, Illinois, has a criminal record dating back to 2019 and had already been taken into custody on suspicion of endangering Grayson 

Grandfather Andrew Luncsford, pictured with another child, had begged his daughter to leave Grayson with him and Tonya 

Luncsford seemed delighted with Grayson as she posted pictures of her newborn on Facebook

Two days later Eastwood was dead from unexplained causes at Mount Sinai Hospital near his home in Chicago, and his son’s life began to unravel.

‘I can’t believe you’re gone Michael,’ Andrea posted on September 7. ‘My heart is hurting so bad. We miss you so much. I can’t keep myself together. We need you. God. We need you.’

Police say Grayson was wearing the same clothes he had on at his father’s funeral when they arrested his mother on suspicion of murder three days later.

An autopsy discovered that he may have been dead for up to 24 hours before he was pulled from the van, which had no ventilation or air conditioning.

Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood said that Grayson also appeared to be severely malnourished by the time he died.

‘An autopsy on little Grayson demonstrates that he suffered gross neglect due to severe hyperthermia and profound dehydration,’ he said at a press conference on Tuesday.

‘We’ve talked about safe sleep and the safe sleep suffocations that are preventable. This, too, is a preventable death.

‘When you have an infant or a kid in a car for any amount of time in this heat, the outcome is going to be as it is right now today, which is we have the death of a 1-month-old who has died because they were in a car with no air conditioning, no ventilation, no nutrition, no hydration.

‘Even an adult would suffer hyperthermia and dehydration.

‘It’s going to happen a lot faster for an infant, unfortunately, because of body surface area and the makeup of their bodies and how fragile they are in their infancy anyway.’

Thirty-three children have died after being left in vehicles so far this year according to a count by NoHeatStroke.org – up from 29 last year. 

Luncsford appeared desperate in her last Facebook update posted a day after her partner’s funeral, and two days before her son’s death 

Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood said that baby Grayson also appeared to be severely malnourished by the time he died

Andrea wept as she appeared in court on Wednesday and was told she faces up to 100 years without parole if convicted of her son’s murder.

A decision on bail is expected Thursday ahead of an arraignment hearing next month.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has begun a second investigation into Grayson’s death.

‘These are active investigations, and we are not able to comment further,’ a spokeswoman said.

‘We are working with local law enforcement on both investigations.’