Where'd you find this handsome young man? Here the street. What's your name? Is that your mom? Did you thank my deputies for locating your child? Did you thank anybody? That's something a normal mother who wasn't impaired would do. Some parents seem to believe that caring for their children isn't all that important. But what happens when the police step in and they're suddenly forced to face the consequences of their neglect? She said, "If you give me five jobs right now, you can have what?" She said, "No, I don't need help. I just don't want the I can't even believe that was even stated. My child is my life. These were the moments when heartless parents abandoned their kids. We begin with the case of a mother whose priorities were clearly anywhere but on caring for her child. We need to know what kind of drugs you took today. I didn't take any drug. What did you do today? What did you do? Because you're not very lucid. You're very slow. Stop being so aggressive. You're not going to tell me what to do. First of all, go ahead and stand up and just put your hands behind your back. On February 26th, 2025, police responded to a call about a 4-year-old boy who had been found wandering the streets alone, wearing no shoes and a dirty diaper. Good afternoon. Hi. Hi. Hi. Where'd you find this handsome young man? The street. Okay. What's your name? I can't. We don't want to blame that. He acts like he's um a little autistic. Yeah, maybe. Lost kid. Lost kid. Nobody recognizes. Nobody recognizable. What's your name? He doesn't know. You don't know your name? Hello. What's your name? Do me a favor. Keep eye. Hey. Hey. Come here, puppy. Turn the new pants. Coming up, one of the officers spoke with the woman who had first spotted him wandering the streets. You never saw this kid before? No. Somebody say, "So, somebody clied you down?" Yeah, because the kids in the street and somebody I'm I'm coming from the war. I'm parking and somebody say do you know that kid and I say no because he alone in the street and nobody know and everybody start to comment and when I say but I call the police the the one lady holding him and no no no okay I'll give it to you you call the police and I thank you very much for calling yeah because that's the best we nobody know what you going to do call the police that it yeah that's best we do anyway? Yeah, right. Figure out where he lives cuz he didn't have a wallet on. No, nobody trying to knock my phone. Come on. Let's go. Let's go. Go. Let's go. Let's go. Y poopy. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going home. Big boy. Big boy. Big boy. Excellent. Doing okay. What the rest of this? Is that your mom? Is that mom? [Music] Is that your mom? Is that your mom? Is that mommy? That mom? Yes. No. The reactions of both the mother and her son said it all. The officer quickly sensed that this wasn't just a simple mistake. It was the kind of case that called for a closer look to determine whether it was a one-time incident or if something more troubling was going on beneath the surface. Let's go. Let's get out of here. You ready to get out of here? Yeah. [Music] Come here. You're not in trouble, buddy. Yeah. 15 radio 16 31 man. Thanks a lot. Appreciate it. Be safe. Yeah. Child has been reunited with his mother. You need us for anything else? No. Hey, outstanding. Thank you so much. Team work, man. You guys, ma'am, what's your first name? Is he on the spectrum or something? Cuz he seemed a little non-verbal for Yeah. 5-year-old. Yeah. A little bit. A little bit. Do you get tested? No, he hasn't been fully like tested, but like a full battery, but it kind of leading that way. Yeah. Okay. All right. So, how the little Houdini get out of the house? Don't know. Not sure. No, he just he has he he just opened the door. That's it. But he's never been outside by himself. He's never been unoccupied. Like he's never done this before. No. It didn't take more than a few seconds from the officers to sensed that something about the mother was really odd. She seemed impaired and was slurring in her speech. All right. You uh might want to consider getting some childproof locks inside. I'm going to go on Amazon. I by today I'm going to go on Amazon. Wait, what is your name again? What is it? Miranda. And you're the mom? Yes. Okay. Anybody else in the house? No. Do you have anybody else that can come to the house? We I have my mother comes to the house all the time. He has his father. Where's the father? Working right now. Does he live here, too? Yeah. Yeah. What are you under the influence of? Nothing. Nothing? No. But uh listen, I've been doing this for a couple of uh years and you're definitely under the influence of something. I'm not 100% sure what, but it's more than obvious. What happened to your leg? What? Switching one more. What? Who's watching him right now if no one's inside? Yeah, he literally just went inside right now. He's with me. He's okay. [Applause] Okay. Do you take any medication? No. Uh, do you have any diagnosis? No. No. Have a seat here. We're going to talk. I would rather be Yeah. Well, I I would rather for you to sit here now. Thank you. I would rather be in. That's okay. That's fine. Have a seat. Thank you. I can stand with him. You can leave the door open if you want. I don't think you'll understand the seriousness of the situation. light. You need to have a seat. It's okay, baby. So, will you be able to tell me what happened to your leg? What do you want? Well, everything's very low. Everything as far as my my foot's been. I'm sorry. Everything is really low. As far as what? as far as what where my like shoes like my footstand is very low. So, okay. Um, do you have a cell phone? Yes. Can you contact uh somebody that is in a better condition than you? Yeah. No, leave the door open. Yeah. Marissa, where are you? All right. Come back this way, Marissa. The officers struggled to get Marissa to cooperate, eventually forcing them to take a more direct and firm approach with her. Yeah. So, Marissa, yes. Your child is wandering around the street. You don't know where he is. You don't know how long he's been gone. He wasn't gone very long because But you don't know how long he's been gone. He wasn't gone very long because why? Was he gone 5 minutes? Was he gone an hour and a half? No, he was not gone an hour and a half. And how do you know? Because the last time I made a phone call was at 2:55. Okay. And it's longer than that now. But prior to that, almost an hour exactly. But prior to that, I did go on the phone. So, he wasn't gone longer than that. And he was down the street. Does your ring doorbell work? It's runner yet? I did. Uh, no valid tag. Nothing to mention. We need to know what kind of photos you took today. I didn't take any drugs. What did you do today? What did you do? Because you're not very lucid. You're very slow. No, I'm very slow because I want to make sure that whatever is going on like I'm telling you based on my training experience, 21 years in law enforcement, you're high. I'm not high. You fell and you're gushing blood out of your leg and you have no idea how you did that. I can promise you you didn't know your child's missing and you live in about a 600 foot apartment. So I need to know what kind of drugs you're on. I can promise you I don't do drugs. I've never done drugs. Don't do anything. No. No over the counter like sleep. Nothing. I can't do drugs. I don't do drugs. So right now sober is enough. So I Yeah. I don't do drugs. I can't do drugs. Like I can promise you there is not like a single thing that Is that a storage closet? Yes. What about alcohol? You can check my storage closet if you please. No. No. It's not. Have you had any alcohol today? I had a drink. Okay. But that's it. What do you drink? Was it beer? Was it What was it? Just a drink and then a Like was it what kind of alcohol was it? Beer. What flavor? What was it? You're very funny and I don't like you. I'm just going to pick that up. That's okay. Red flag after red flag emerged with each question as Marissa showed zero interest in helping the officers figure out what had actually happened and couldn't answer simple questions as what she had been drinking. So, Marissa, what what could we do to make you feel more comfortable to answer these questions? Well, cuz we get excited about a little kid. That's all. No, I know. And I get that. I 100%. Like I'm a mama bear, so I'm like overly like getting into things. You could start by stop being so aggressive. You're not going to tell me what to do first of all. Okay. Go ahead and stand up and just put your hands behind your back. Okay. Well, let me help. Yep. Yeah, you will. To stand up. You will, please. Okay. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see how that works. Be nice. We tried to be very nice and try to figure out your situation. All right, we take the jacket off. Take the sweater off. You're not It's not very Well, you can't take it to jail with you in a nice outfit. Can we get you some shorts? I can go grab some. No, you're not. You're in our custody now. Okay. Well, see, this is not necessary. It is because you can And my friend's not here. You cannot put us at ease that you are able to take care of your child. And it's evident by your actions and what happened today that you are not able to take care of your child. Do you understand that? No, I am not at all. You are not. Yeah. So the technical term is lay. We tried talking to you. You said we were aggressive. You avoided our questions. We don't have time for you. Aggressive. It's you're being very very mean. No, I just want to make sure your son is taken care of. And I wish you had that his interest in your mind as well. I do have his sit back down. Please sit back down or pants. It would be in my basket. But which room? You want to have EMS come back and treat this or do you want to They're gonna medically clear it, right? I'm just take care of freestanding. This is crazy. You are not in the right state to take care of a child. I am. That's why we were here today. We tried to have you put our fears at ease. You cannot You cannot explain yourself or you're unwilling to I can explain myself. You chose not to listen to me. And I said he was fine. This was a one time off. However, you came very aggressive, so I didn't feel at ease. Okay, understandable. Did you thank my deputies for locating your child? Did you thank anybody? That's something a normal mother who wasn't impaired would do. Okay. You are very nonchalant. Coming up, a family friend arrived to take care of the child. In cases like this, DCFS is usually involved. But if a trusted relative or family friend is available and authorities determine it's a safe option for the child, they're often allowed to step in instead. John, you want to come talk? She's on something. She's impaired. Something's going on. What's What's the history here? All I know I know she only drinks. She drinks. Okay. I know it's not. So, long story short, child's found wandering the street over there, dirty diaper, obviously afraid, nonverbal, you know, obviously special needs of some sort. Um, we come in contact with that, go knocking door to door. The deputies do a great job by finding the mom, but she's upon first contact, obviously something's wrong. She's either intoxicated, she's fallen, she's bleeding, hitting on her left leg, she doesn't know how she's fallen. So, these are things that have us very um you know, nervous about leaving a child with her. So, with what's happened here with the with the kid being gone and not even knowing and the state that he's in, it's obvious it's a crime. Okay. So, she's going to go to jail. Um we obviously are concerned about the care of the child who we can leave this child with. Have you guys ever taken care of this kid before? My wife watches him all the time. Okay. She watch them here or at your house. here. She's came he's came to our house before. Is she able to come here? I can stay here with him until she gets here. Um I know that he's never like seems like a good how he got out. I don't think he's never got out before. The dead bowl locked. When you guys knocked on the door, was it open? It wasn't here. Okay. On the around the corner. You can check the ring cam. Maybe see like dead. Oh, is it? Camera's dead. We tried to check it. Asked her about it. So, what's your first name, sir? Josh. Yeah. I don't know what happened here, but she does drink, but that's unlike her. Does she drink like a lot or just occasionally? Unless she's been arguing with her her husband and uh because of the drinking. Well, he's the one with the drinking problem. So, it's like, are they both? Yeah. Yeah. But he drinks more is what I'm saying. Okay. I don't drink at all, so I don't understand. Yeah. You save a lot of money. Yeah. Yeah. What's your funny? Of course. So, the lady's down the street changed his diaper, cleaned him up, gave him a pair of shorts, some socks. Yeah. So, I don't know when the last time he ate. He's got like a I don't know, maybe like autism or something. She's with him 24/7. You know, she doesn't she doesn't work right now, so she stays with the kid. Her husband works. All right. Well, I appreciate the the backstory on this cuz Yeah. She doesn't like me. Yeah. Announced as much. Yeah, she may not seem like it right now, but she's really good girl. You know, she's always uh her and my wife were bartenders back in 10 years ago when I met a boat, but good people. I don't know why the drinking like this, but yeah, of course I'll stay with him. I really appreciate my wife. I have her come over and relieve me. Josh's backstory offered a glimpse into what life must have been like growing up in that home with mom regularly drinking and dad with a big drinking problem. coming up. Marissa was prepared to be transported to jail. He said to us that you have a drinking problem. So hopefully you know this is a wakeup call and your son's okay and you can get some help for that. Okay. This could have ended bad. He could have got by a car. He could have gone missing in one of these waterways. Is he autistic? No. What What's his uh condition? Is he just special needs? Just let the jail take it out. Yeah. So, he has no special needs, no nothing. All right. Do better, ma'am. For your son, there's only one way and it's up from here. Marissa was charged with neglect. Oh my god. Are you guys missing a baby? Have you checked the house? In the house. Oh goodness. Where's mama? And I don't appreciate everybody up on my property like this. Man, we just brought your child back. On November 3rd, 20124, officers were called after a young toddler was found wandering the streets nearly 2 m from home. A truck driver was preparing for a routine inspection when he noticed a small shadow near a stop sign. At first, he thought he was hallucinating until he realized it was a baby. Hi, honey. Hi. What's here? Let's take this. Oh goodness. Where's mama? I got you. And um do you have ID with you real quick just so I can get your information down? Parking lot. When I woke up, she was standing up there by a pole. Yeah. And I couldn't tell until she walked away from the pole. That's when I was like, "What is that?" So you were in the semitr. Were you in the semi-truck or were you just walking to it? I was in it. Okay. So you're in the semi-truck and um My alarm go off. I get up, start my truck up, and I'm sitting there waiting, you know, getting ready to do my pre-trip and everything. I see something standing next to this pole, and I focus that first pole right there. This pole? This flag one? No, that electrical. Gotcha. My truck was a little further back. Yeah. But as the kid kind of wanted this way, I let it coast down the street a little bit so I can keep an eye on him. Okay. And um and she moved. I'm like, "What is that?" You know, I didn't know what it was cuz it was just a shadow at that point. And she got over here into the clear. Okay. All right. Well, we're going to try to figure out where she goes to. Thank you, sir. The toddler appeared to be nonverbal, making it even harder for officers to identify the parents, especially since they had no idea how far the child had wandered. Coming up, the officers searched nearby yards and looked for open windows or doors that might lead them to the child's home. [Music] 57 Extra wash. Hello. Hi. Evan, please. Evan, please. Hi. Sorry to bother you. I saw all your lights were on. Uh you heard some voices outside. Were you out the back? Yeah, I were walking around. There was a little baby girl like 2 years old that was just walking around outside. Uh a little black 2-year-old. Does do you know anybody that might have a baby like that lives nearby? Black. Yeah, black black 2-year-old little girl. Probably around two. Maybe one one to two. be but she was like right around right right at this corner right before you get to the I'm trying to think there's um some black let's see not this house not next house but next house I believe it's black that's a back family with a lot of little kids really uh so like you go down this street Yeah then make a left make a left and then it's right on that corner the man's help was crucial in the search for the child's parents. Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely bizarre, but I appreciate your help. All right. Have a good night. He had all his lights on, so I was like, maybe they're awake or whatever. He said that there's a black family that lives where that white Avengers at. Okay. Uh that's the only black family he knows that has kids here. And then so I might go knock on their door, get lucky. And then there's another black family if you go that he knows they have a bunch of kids. Uh if you turn left up there and then right where it bends, he said on the north side of the road on that corner, there's like he knows there's a bunch of little kids that live there, too. So, hello. It's the Edmond Police Department. What? What's that? Um, are you missing about a three-year-old baby? Oh my god. Oh my god. Hello. Are you guys missing a baby? Have you checked the house? Missing a house. Well, do you want to check to make sure that the baby's actually missing? It might not be the same. We have her. If If it is, it's a boy. Okay. Have you been looking? You want to go look real quick and come back out here just to verify I'm off traffic. There's going to be a silver hatchback. The mother appeared visibly upset over her missing child. But as officers waited for her to come back outside, dispatch informed them that this wasn't the first time a missing baby had been traced back to the very same house they were now standing in front of. Is Is he not here? No. Okay, we we have him. He's fine. He's fine. Okay, we're He's coming. It's a boy. He just got long hair. Okay. Yep. Yep. Yep. Uh my partners got him and they're coming down here now. Oh my. Does he uh He's autistic. Does he run off a lot? Yes. Okay. And I told Mike when I seen him out here, I told his big sister when she's 18, I was like, "Get him." She talking about I got him. How did he get out of the house? I don't know. Cuz the garage was open. Okay. Well, he's he's on his way over here. He's He's perfectly fine. He's just a little bit cold. The side door that was open. The garage was open. And I just closed it because she told me she got him, but I thought he was in the house. That's why I closed the garage. Gotcha. Yeah, she's healthy with a super lucky lady. So, a truck driver was parked over there and he was taking a nap and he woke up and started driving to Kansas, saw a little shadow and looked over and uh but she was she made it all the way to the far and almost made it almost. Oh my god, bring your ass. It appeared the mother had left her youngest son in the care of his older sister while she was off doing something else. Though officers still weren't sure exactly what. Regardless, they knew the responsibility ultimately fell on the mother for allowing a toddler to wander off like that. Is everything okay in here? Stop playing with me. Is everything okay in here? Yeah, it is. Cuz I'm going on record. She's 18 years old. This door should not be open. Ma'am, can we calm down? We she the baby is safe now and I know he's safe but in the same token too regardless to the fact ma'am the possibilities of anything happening to him and it's all three of y'all in this house all of y'all of age to watch your little brother knowing that he just got diagnosed with autism. Like come on. We know that he walks. We know that if my garage door is open, this door is supposed to stay closed at all times. Ma'am, y'all know that. Ma'am, can you talk to us now? You You don't need to scream. I understand you're really upset, but we we because that's scary for me. I know, ma'am. Here it is. I'm getting ready to relax and I'm thinking that all my kids is in the house. I got three kids myself and that is that is the I got two autistic sons. M he just got diagnosed. My 16-year-old is autistic. My only two normal kids is my oldest daughters. So you should know better to keep all doors closed. I even ordered certain locks from Amazon to keep on the front door and the back door to lock down so that he can't get out. Because my 16-year-old has a habit of opening up that front door and he has let my three-year-old out. Can you come out here and talk to us for a second? No one's in trouble or anything. I don't want to. I want to deal with my children. I understand that. And then we'll get out of the way, but you have to do this. So, I don't have to do that. I just need to get some information from you, ma'am. No, you don't. Because as long as I'm not under arrest or nothing is going on. No, I don't. And I don't appreciate everybody up on my property like this. Man, we just brought your child back here. I know this. But I really have to deal with them cuz I'm trying to figure out how did that even happen? And we are, you know, so are we. And we have to. You understand that? Like we have to. That's our job. And we just found a three-year-old baby wandering around the streets. We have to ask some questions and we have to get your information because we have to do a report. No, you don't. Yes, ma'am. We have I'm the lieutenant. I'm the supervisor working today and that is happening. We have to do that. You understand that? And you understand that you are technically detained. We're just being very, very respectful. I'm technically detained on my own property by law. I'm not detained. Yes, ma'am. We are because we're investigating that a child was walking down the street, a three-year-old in a diaper that I did not know. Right. And we would love to hear your side of the story about it and we have to get your information so we could write that down because right now all that's in the CAD is that a three-year-old baby was walking on the street. We have to explain that away in a report. You understand that? So, we have to get your information and put it in the report. But no, I'm not I'm not going to give my information unless I'm going unless I'm being detained. And I'm not being detained on my own property. And I know that. Understandable. I didn't know that my child got out because my my garage is closed and I'm thinking all my children was safe and then the house and what I don't what I did not know is that this is even happening because I'm getting dinner and stuff together for my kids and everything. So, we will write all that down in the report to explain the three-year-old baby walking down the street. I would appreciate this. I have a right to no trespassing. Ma'am, if you don't give us your information, I don't have to call on my property. Okay. We'll just And then what you want to Let me get my phone so I can record this just real fast. No need. We're going to leave them do D. No. No. You You can. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. You think you'd have more respect for someone that brings their baby back here. I understand that. But with me not knowing, I'm pretty sure it happens. We're children. All righty. Have a good day, ma'am. Don't walk out there. A few days later, the woman was arrested in connection with this incident. DHS is currently investigating the case further. Now, to the case where police confronted a reckless mother who had left her young children alone in a hotel room for several hours. Cuz your kids were by themselves. Uh, no, they weren't. Left them in a hotel room. And then you want to get upset with us. like this is our problem that we created. No, no, no. We didn't create this problem. On December 6th, 2024, officers were dispatched to a hotel after receiving a report that two children, ages 1 and 3 years old, had been left alone in a room. Knowing how fast a situation like this could spiral into tragedy, they rushed to the scene without hesitation. Called over here cuz they were crying. So then he came and didn't want to leave them alone. So he went and grabbed to grab Oh, there he is. Hi. Hi. them. So, can you tell me what's going on? Yeah, we got called cuz your kids were by themselves. Uh, no, they weren't. Who was here then? My sister was just here. Okay. They weren't here for the last 30 minutes when the worker came and checked. So, that's why we're here. Baby was like grabbing at that he needs a diaper change. I think I've at least been here for 12 minutes and the person who called had been here for some time before calling. So, this is ridiculous honestly. Okay. So, you have to stay in the room now. I'm I'm waiting because you keep going out there and I need to make sure these kids are good because you weren't here for like 30 minutes or no one was here. An adult was not here for 30 minutes with them. They were both sleeping. My sister just came out and I went to the store for 30 minutes. My sister was here. Ma'am, I'm telling you, the person who called is someone who works here. Okay, I understand that. But they have to They want you to deplete your investigation cuz then they have to prove that I I was What's your first name? You need my first and last name. And what's a good phone number for you? 224. Okay. The woman was clearly frustrated that the police were involved. She didn't seem to view the situation as a serious issue at all. Okay. Well, this officer is in there watching your kids. We'll go in there and talk to them. Go inside and watch your children, please. Okay. This is I who was the your what's your name that was watching them? How do you spell that? Can you see over here? Ma'am, I'm I'm trying to hear what's going on. Anna phone number. I don't have her phone number. I literally have a laptop. You see, I don't have How do you speak to her? So that Facebook Okay. Can I But I just gave you her name. I don't have a phone number. This is I don't even have a phone. This is all I have. I can show you that. So, what do you want me to do? Where does she What's her address? Hello. Hi there. All right. Hi, guys. What's going on today? You got a good point there. They were left unattended. She says just 30 minutes, but it the two or four hours for just I got to find somebody who can talk to me on the side. Here, I'll I'll you guys can Yeah. Hi, boss. Sorry, mom is in here changing the other one. While the first responding officer briefed her sergeant on the situation, other officers outside the hotel room met the father for the first time. He appeared completely confused about what was going on. I think this is a mistake. Like she just or something. You want to switch places? You want to go in there with the kids? Are they okay? Yeah, you can come in. This is crazy. Your iPad is in the bathroom. You don't have a phone? No. How would How would anyone contact you? What is Well, I just contact like Are you saying like how do I communicate with my family and everyone? Yeah. Let's say I'm trying to I'm trying to contact you. How would I contact you? Through Facebook Messenger. Facebook. And then do you live here at this hotel? Yeah. This room. Okay. We were talking to Dalen. We just want to know the timeline of what happened. So, what I understood is Dalen went to the gas station. Mhm. Can you start from there? When Dalen left to the gas station, where were you? I went outside at first and then I let my sister in. I was up here for a little and then I left for about 30 to 40 minutes. Okay. And your sister? Mhm. Okay. And you're in the room. You physically saw her in the room with the kids before leaving? Yes. Okay. And where did you go? Is this supposed to be like am I going to be arrested? Like what's going on? I'm just trying to figure out what happened right now. We walked into a room where kids are by themselves. I'm just trying to figure out what's going on. 30 minutes. But I understand. And were they Was one of them sleeping? Neither one of them was sleeping. Okay. Cuz she just checked on the woman. She was sleeping. But coming up, the woman revealed something about her parenting that made it clear to officers this wasn't just a one-time incident. Her reckless behavior had become a pattern. Yeah, I I I think I've explained enough to the other officers. So, I've already had DCFS called me before, and I know how this goes. I'm the investigating officer. I'm going to be typing up stuff that happened. So, can you just tell me what happened? I was gone for 30 to 40 minutes. Okay. And you left. Was your sister in the room. Mhm. She come She's, you can see on the cameras, she comes here frequently. She showers here. Does she have her own room key to the door? No, she would need mine. She has a key to get in through the doors. But my door is currently off. That's how you guys were able to get in. You left. And then where did you you left and where'd you go? I went back down through this way. Okay. You You stayed in the hotel? No, I left. Okay. 30 to 40 minutes. Okay. Where'd you go? I went to make an errand. Where would that be? In Elgen. Elgen is pretty. You have to be very specific. I would like to know where you went. Yes. I went to go handle some business. Somewhere close to here. Where is it? It's about 15 minutes at at the most away. Did you drive there? No, I had a ride. You had a ride. Who'd you ride with? I think it's You happen to have a last name? No. Yeah, it was requested for me. Is that like an Uber service? Who requested that for you? My sister. Do you know right now? No, I don't. probably at work. Okay. What time does she usually go to work? She has different shifts. They rotate and it's peak season, so I don't know. You left here to go run an errand. You got a ride from someone and you don't you don't want to tell me where that is. I just It's a little personal, so I don't really feel the need to express it, but I just want to I I honestly just want to know what's going on. like I can know if you guys are trying to transport so I can just let my mom know and call my grandma so I just want to know it's like How long ago did Dalon leave the uh hotel? I'm not sure because I was still here. Okay. And then you left how long ago you said? Well, now it's probably way longer than 30 to 40 minutes, right? Cuz I've been here about what How long were you gone? 25 minutes. I was gone for up to 40 minutes. When did you meet up with Dalen? Cuz you guys walked in here together. I called him as soon as I was on my way back. I thought neither one of you had a phone. Did you see me coming in with a laptop? You called him on a laptop. He has an iPad. Neither one of us don't have a phone. And where did you guys meet up at? Outside. Like outside the hotel? Mhm. Coming up, one of the officers gave the mother a brief on what was going to happen from that moment onward. So, we have to take the kids to the hospital. So, am I going with my kids? Well, we are taking them to the hospital so that they can get medically evaluated and then we're going to have to contact DCFS to see what they want to do from that point. I can't tell you what DCF. So you're telling me you're taking my kids away from me? They are going to the hospital to be checked out because the information that we've been provided is that they've been left there for several hours since before 2:00. So we have an obligation to make sure that the kids are safe medically cared for. That time frame, really any time frame with kids that age is not acceptable. But when we're talking three plus hours, that's that's a problem. So we have to make sure that they're okay. That would be examined by a medical professional. So, I don't feel that. Am I not given the right to go with my kids to the hospital? Well, that's one thing we're going to be kind of talking about at this point. Just one second. Say you call her on your uh laptop. Let them do their thing and you can get you can have your laptop and you can call, text, however you need. Deja, can you stay out here? Call your mom or call someone. They're trying to take our kids. You want to take our kids? So So again, I Let's not make this any more complicated than needs to be. The kids are going to the hospital to get checked out by a medical professional because our investigations revealed that they've been left here alone since 1:30 p.m. which is completely unacceptable. We have an obligation to make sure that the kids are in a good medical condition. And so we are going to make sure that they're examined at a hospital and we're going to call DCFS for further direction. That's that's what it is. So, can we get our kids back after the hospital? We're going to have to call DCF. DCFS is going to make that determination. We're gonna have to call DCFS and I'm supposed to like trust that you guys are gonna You can trust us. Believe me, we will do a good job of of making sure that your kids are cared for. Okay? And and again, you can't even come with him. I don't have a cell phone. How you guys going to tell me what's going on on the dates with my daughter? We'll be with you. But one thing I will tell you is although you're upset and frustrated, cooperation is going to be very important to make sure that this is a smooth process. If you want if you want your kids back, then you need to cooperate. I already went through this before. I'm going to try to reiterate what the officer was saying. All right. On behalf of the Elgen Fire Department, we have to make sure that the kids are well taken care of. I'm Captain Walzac with the with the department. You you've got my name. I can give you all the contact information you need. I believe one of the officers are going to be remaining. So, we're going to have ways. I understand your phone's not working. The city's going to provide you with an officer so that they can relay information. And so, you don't know like how long like we do up to DCF. We're going to make because of the other case, they might just take my daughter. Yeah. Wow. Are you serious? They literally came in here and like literally cleared them and said that they look healthy and they're going to confirm that the hospital and DCFS is going to make a determination on what we do. I'm not going to say that they're going to take the kids away from you. They may give the kids back to you tonight, but we have a process that we need to to go through and it's imperative that you guys don't obstruct or make this any more difficult than it needs to be because again, we have to report to DCFS. Well, hold on one second. I just need to get my iPad under your custody. Unless you're cool with us. We have an officer coming up to follow them to the hospital. So, we should have an contact on my iPad. I I have not. You'll get a chance to contact out here with the hallway. Why does he need to go in the hallway? She needs to talk to these officers. Come on, please. Let's go. We'll let you make a phone call. You're making this more complicating is making you guys take my kids. No, don't say because this is in the hallway now. Okay. In the hallway. No, no, no, no. It's okay. I'm going. Put your arms on your back. I'm going. I'm going. For what? Put your arms on. Put them on your back. For what? For what? Me? After arresting the father, officers moved to arrest the mother as well. Despite being clearly told that cooperating could help things go more smoothly and even improve her chances of getting her children back sooner. She chose to take things down a different path. No, I had my sister here. She wasn't here. The video shows she wasn't here. Okay. You can't lie with the video. I don't give a You guys had to see everything. Okay. From a guinea. See, how did people enter these doors? Okay. I did. I did. Okay. There was no. Did you guys call them yet? We're calling them. We're dealing with you guys first. What? Please. They're taking me to jail. For what? For me. No. Please, bro. No. That's [ __ ] It's [ __ ] It is bull. What's [ __ ] is leaving? No. No. No. No. You guys cannot do this. You came here on here. We didn't come here because we just decided to stroll in here. We were called by the hotel because you made a bad decision to leave your kids home alone. That's what it was down. That's not You can make excuses all you want, but the reality is is you committed a crime and we have an obligation to make sure that your kids are okay. If you think it's okay to leave your kids in a in a hotel room by themselves for 3 hours. If you think that that's okay, that's a rational thing in your head, then you have some serious problems because we have probable cause to believe that these kids were left unattended in a hotel room at age 2 and four, which is completely unacceptable under any circumstance. One and four. One and three. Sorry. One and three. Left them in a hotel room. And then you want to get upset with us like this is our problem that we created. No, no, no, no. We didn't create this problem. We are now forced to deal with it because you guys made a bad decision. And I'm not trying to talk down to you or belittle you, but there there is a point in time when we need to take some self responsibility for our actions and this is unaccept. And when unacceptable things happen and criminal law is broken, we have an obligation as the police to do what we need to do. We care about your kids. We want to make sure your kids are safe. Leaving kids alone for a 3 plus hour period is not acceptable. There are resources available to help you. You guys don't even have like this is crazy. So even when we're inside and out, right, I leave for 5 minutes. I'm asking I'm asking what is the consecutive time that I have to be there is no set timeline. It's what's reasonable. So if I leave for 10 minutes and I go outside smoke a and I come back in that's unacceptable. It depends on the circumstances. That's not the circumstances we're dealing with right now. The circumstances we're dealing with are that the kids were left alone for 3 plus hours. So that you guys took my kids. So now how am I like this is crazy. So someone's going to stay with me the whole night and make sure they're going to tell me that update with my daughter. That's not the plan. So what's the plan? We're going to be with you so that if you have questions about what what's going on, we're going to share that. What's the plan? The plan is you're going to be going down to the police station with us to address this. I'm getting arrested, too. Yes, you both are. Because they they're saying that they have evidence. The judge will see everything. I've already had this this exact same thing go and we're not saying you're guilty of anything. We're saying you have no guilty until proven. We're saying you have probable cause for your arrest for endangering the life and health of the child. Actually, two counts because there's two children involved. That's what I'm telling you. I'm not I'm not trying to tell you that you're guilty of anything. That's for the courts to decide. But we have an obligation when innocent children are involved in a case that we have to do everything line by line to the book. And I would not be doing your children a service if I just left them here with you and said, you know, let's try and do better. It doesn't work that way, unfortunately. Now, DCFS is going to ask us for photos of the conditions that we found the kids in. Can we take pictures for their purposes? I'm saying that the DCFS want to see the see if my kids are okay. They can't see if we have the pictures. They're not going to come here. They're going to go to the hospital. Okay. Okay, then they can see them at the hospital. But no, they can't take photos. They're not taking photos of my my children. No, no, no. I'm I'm talking about the conditions of your apartment. You cannot take pictures of No, my apartment. You don't want me to? No. I mean, it's for the most part, it's not that bad, but it it documents the conditions at the time that we were here. Okay. All So, so you're asking to take permission photos? Yeah. Okay. No, you can't. Okay. They said that we left. Yes. So, they took both the babies away from us and took them to the hospital right now. And now they're trying to charge me and Dalen with child end. What is the process from here? I'm going to be taken to the police station, booked and processed, and then we'll go from there. Both parents were charged with endangerment. Moving on to the harrowing case of a mother who left her two young children, both with cognitive developmental challenges, locked inside their home for 9 hours. During her absence, a fire broke out inside the house, turning a case of neglect, into an even more disturbing tragedy. Hey, I need a medic. medic. Now, on May 23rd, 2022, officers and firefighters were dispatched to a residence after reports of heavy smoke coming from the house caused by an electrical socket that had caught fire. Upon entering the home, officers found two children, ages 8 and 10, with no sign of their parents. Hey. Hey. I need a medic. Medic now. Now. [Music] They need a medic. Medic. Medic. Medic. Now get off the hydra. Upon arriving at the scene, the firefighters found both children unresponsive. The officers quickly called for medics with stretchers so the children could receive immediate treatment for smoke inhalation. local right now. Nobody knows. Okay. He said, "Find someone, see what we need to do." Yeah. And then tell them that Well, I'm not opening. I'm Yeah, that's good. I was going to say we should probably I'm just going to keep an eye on these people over here and these people. He said he doesn't really know what supposed to be three to four kids that live here. They only found one. Oh [ __ ] All right, man. This smoke is heavy, too. He wasn't the smoke inhalation. Yeah, I'm going to bet the car. The parents were still nowhere to be found, prompting officers to question neighbors in an effort to identify who lived at the residence. Do you guys have any information on people who live here? Yes. The adults? It's one lady, but you usually have a white car, but she's not here now. Okay. Do you guys have a phone number for her? No, that's what we saying. We don't have a phone number. You guys know names? No name, last names, and anything like that? No, she's an African lady. Okay. Yeah. And she usually have two or three kids there. That's what I'm saying. I got the guy asked me so. I don't know if you know. Okay. They recently moved in here about a year ago. About a year ago. Appreciate it, guys. Thank you. 56. [Applause] Soon after, the mother arrived at the scene, appearing visibly distressed over the horrific situation her children had been exposed to. At that moment, their condition was still unknown. However, it would later be revealed that she played a significant role in the events that turned this incident into a tragedy. 41 41 41. Can you start the 56 and car 9 at 255 East Falls Avenue? Okay, copy. I'll put you on the call. Two children. [Music] They're at the hospital. They're at the hospital. How many of your children were home? I guess two two children were home, huh? Just two. How old are they? 87. 87. Something left down there. How old are the children? We need to we need to know how are there other kids with it? I'll bring it. Let's figure out how We'll go get your ride down. Okay. We're going to take you down. I need you. At this point, the mother was desperately begging to see her two children who were being treated by EMTs. Due to her escalating emotional outbursts, officers and paramedics determined it was best to place her on a stretcher in an effort to help calm her down. Ma'am, do you want to take a seat over here on the car? Be safe. Come on. We will. We're going to That's all we're going to do. right now. She's driving. Somebody needs to make sure we're handling it now. [Music] [Applause] Where's this? Is your phone in there or is it in the car? How many children? Two. How old are they? I don't have my phone. You need to know how old the standard I'll get your phone. Talk to them in a white car. Okay. Talk to him. I'll get your phone. I'm going to ring the car up. Wild. Ma'am, how many how many children do you have? Just the two. There's no other kids that weren't here. No other kids that weren't here. I never Tragically, both children succumbed to their injuries and were pronounced deceased from smoke inhalation. Investigators later found that their mother had called them out of school, locked them inside the home, and left for over 9 hours to go to work. Both children had severe developmental disabilities and lacked the cognitive and motor skills to escape during an emergency. A few days later, the mother was charged with two counts of reckless homicide and endangerment. She ultimately pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and endangerment and was sentenced to 6 to9 years in prison.