A mother in Florida was arrested after she waited to report her autistic daughter as missing, instead taking a shower before informing authorities of the child’s disappearance.
Amy Brooke Evans was taken into custody and was charged with one count of child abuse by simple neglect following an incident that took place earlier in July.
The Leesburg Police Department stated in a probable cause affidavit obtained by Us that officers responded to a shopping center in Lake County shortly before noon on July 9 after they received reports of a child walking alone through the parking lot “with a soiled diaper, wearing one shoe, and no parents seen nearby.”
The witness who called authorities told police that she spotted the child wandering through the parking lot and she brought him inside of a department store as they waited for help. After noting that the child appeared to be nonverbal and seemed to have “a severe mental disability,” she said that she and others searched the area for a parent or guardian before she called 911.
Another shopper told investigators that the child knocked on her vehicle window. She said there were no adults nearby and she reportedly noticed that there was feces smeared on the jacket that the child was holding.
Officers found the child with fecal residue on the body and clothing, while her diaper was “heavily soiled” and “appeared to have not been changed in the last 24 hours,” per the affidavit.
Investigators reportedly saw multiple bruises on the child’s arms and legs, while they also noted that he had several wounds to the arms, legs and hands. Officers then recruited the help of paramedics, who transported the child to a hospital for further evaluation.
As the investigation continued, Evans, 40, called 911 to report that the child was missing from a residence about 0.3 miles away. Evans said she had taken a shower for “no more than an hour” and her boyfriend was sleeping on the couch at the time her child went missing. She added that she realized that the child was gone when she got out of the shower.
Evans reportedly declined to provide a written statement, as well as gave inconsistent answers about where she lived. Officers noted that she appeared “apprehensive, fidgeting, leaning excessively, and would ‘zone out’” while she was being questioned, which suggested she “may have been under the influence of narcotics.”
Police asked Evans for a recent photo of the missing child, and she showed officers one picture that was taken one year earlier. Evans also allegedly claimed that the child had become autistic and nonverbal “out of the blue.”
Evans and her roommate gave drastically different accounts of what happened, which were both detailed in the affidavit.
The roommate told investigators that Evans did not appear concerned when she discovered her child was missing and was “more concerned with taking a shower first and becoming presentable before calling the police to report the victim missing.”
Additionally, the roommate told officers that the child “always appears dirty and unkempt” and implied Evans might not know how to properly care for the child.
Once the child made it to the hospital, staff found what appeared to be a cigarette burn on the child’s left arm. Medical personnel also found several bruises and scars, though indicated that some of the injuries could have been self-inflicted.
Investigators eventually concluded that Evans willfully failed to provide the supervision and care required for a child that’s severely autistic and nonverbal. She was then arrested and booked into the Lake County Jail on $10,000 bond. Evans is next scheduled to appear in court for her arraignment hearing on August 3.
It is not currently clear if Evans has entered a plea or retained legal counsel following her arrest.
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