Washington Mother Abandoned Baby Boy in Yard Overnight After Drugs ‘Made Her Paranoid,’ Police Say
A mother was arrested after admitting she abandoned her 3-month-old in the yard of a Washington state home in Lakewood Sunday night during a drug-induced bout of paranoia, police said.
Lakewood Police Lt. Chris Lawler said authorities found the child after a woman walking home around 1:30 a.m. Monday thought she heard a distressed animal. Instead, she found an infant boy lying in the grass of a residence, Lawler told KTLA sister station KCPQ in Seattle.
The baby was cold, but otherwise in good health, investigators said. He was taken to a local hospital and placed in protective state custody.
A female patient at St. Clare Hospital later told officials there she was the child’s mother, Lawler said.
“The mother told detectives that she was at a Lakewood residence last night and did some drugs, which made her paranoid,” a Lakewood police news release said. “She said she grabbed her baby and ran from the residence because she thought she was being chased. She admitted to leaving the baby in a front yard and hoping someone would find him. She was later found running around the area of 74th and Tyler at 7:07AM and transported to St. Clare for medical treatment.”
While detectives were interviewing the mom, the father of the child showed up at the hospital. He said he last saw his child with his wife Sunday night when he left because he was arguing with her. He said he didn’t know the child had been abandoned.
The child’s mother was booked into Pierce County Jail for second-degree abandonment of a dependent person. The father was booked into jail for an outstanding misdemeanor arrest warrant, police said.
Officials haven’t identified either of the parents pending official charges.