need to know
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At approximately 3:00 a.m. on Friday, December 5, the property owner’s camera captured a 2-year-old girl wandering alone in the woods.
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Video observed by the homeowner showed the little girl “only wearing one piece of clothing and no shoes.”
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Her mother, Haley Peoples, was arrested on suspicion of child abandonment/endangerment-imminent danger of bodily harm, and her grandmother, Rebecca Kelly, was arrested on suspicion of interfering with an abuse/neglect investigation
A 2-year-old Texas girl was found wandering alone in the woods with a game camera, leading to the arrest of her mother and grandmother.
The young child was spotted wandering alone in the woods on the property owner’s game camera around 3:00 a.m. on Friday, December 5, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
Officers responded to the “deeply concerning call” around 6:00 a.m. when the homeowner observed video showing the little girl “wearing only one piece of clothing and no shoes.”
“With temperatures in the high 40s, the little girl was in potentially life-threatening condition,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
Bexar County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook
Game camera footage finds 2-year-old wandering alone in woods
The search for the child began immediately. Meanwhile, a woman named Haley Peoples reported at 7:20 a.m. that her 2-year-old daughter had left her home earlier that morning.
Peoples found the 2-year-old outside at 4:15 a.m., but despite an aggressive search, law enforcement was not contacted for several hours, the Sheriff’s Office said.
When deputies arrived at the home, they said they found “unsafe living conditions including trash, dirty clothing, rotting food, rat droppings and a strong odor of urine.”
The 2-year-old was found “dirty,” and an EMS worker requested a medical evaluation. Police said Peoples refused to care for and change the 2-year-old child.
Bexar County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook
Hailey people
“Deputies took People into custody due to dangerous conditions, denial of medical care, and serious risk to the child,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
The child’s grandmother, Rebecca Kelly, returned to the scene but left after being asked to wait for a supervisor, according to police.
A short time later, deputies learned Kelly went to an elementary school and attempted to remove the child’s three other siblings from class just before 9:00 a.m., according to the release.
“School staff reported that she claimed Child Protective Services had arrived and told the children not to talk about the early morning incident, calling it a ‘private family matter,'” police said. “This attempt to interfere with the child safety investigation further endangered the siblings and hindered legitimate efforts to ensure their well-being.”
Kelly was detained at the school and four children under the age of eight were taken to hospital for evaluation.
Bexar County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook
Rebecca Kelly
Peoples was arrested on suspicion of child abandonment/endangerment-imminent danger of bodily harm, and Kelly was arrested on suspicion of interfering with an abuse/neglect investigation. Both men were booked into the Bexar County Jail.
Court records reviewed by PEOPLE show Peoples was released on a $50,000 bond and Kelly was released on a $7,500 bond.
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PEOPLE reached out to the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office for comment.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or visit www.childhelp.org. All calls are free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
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