Toddler survives three weeks alone on ketchup, dry pasta
Tuesday, September 30, 2003 Posted: 6:55 AM EDT (1055 GMT)


JACKSONVILLE, Florida (AP) -- A 2-year-old left alone for nearly three weeks while her mother was behind bars survived by eating mustard, ketchup, rice and raw pasta, police said.

The toddler was watching cartoons when found by her father, police said Monday. She was suffering from malnutrition and was being treated at Wolfson Children's Hospital, police said.

Dakeysha Lee, 22, was charged Monday with child abuse because she didn't let anyone know that her daughter was alone in her apartment, police said. She was jailed Sept. 10 on unrelated charges.

Ogden Lee, who is separated from the girl's mother, said he talked to her by telephone at the jail Sunday and she said their daughter was with neighbors.

When he got into the apartment, the youngster had dragged food and toys into her mother's bedroom and was lying in a baby's bathtub. She was covered with dried ketchup, Lee said.

"She grabbed me and wouldn't let go of me," Lee said. "It is really a miracle how good a shape my daughter is in. I don't know how she did it."




OK this bitch needs her ass kicked!!!


[This message was edited Thu Oct 2 8:04:43 PDT 2003 by butterfli25]

butterfli25 said:

you got that right girl...we can take her

all I say is WHY???

None of this shit surprises me anymore. There are so many loser parents out there and it's high time someone did something to stop these people from bringing these poor babies into such a shitty world. For God sake people, if you're going to have babies, look after them with love, affection and attention. Having cnildren is a privilege, not a right! Just because you can pop them out doesn't make you special.

WTF?!?

This is just beyond words. It's really hard not to hate people who do things like this.

Nobody checked on the child for three weeks? The father "thought" she was with neighbours, even then you would think he would want to see her within that three week period. Poor, poor kid.

As for her mother...words fail me..

Lleena said:

That's a good point...I guess the father didn't care about her either.

I AM SOOO ANGRY ABOUT THIS!!!

That poor baby poor poor poor baby!

I agree with Lleena where the hell was daddy? the damn neighbors? nobody heard this baby?

family? friends? damn!

what a phucked up world she lives in hell we all live in so now what her dad gets her..yeah he'll drop her off on his mom who probably is old and doesn't need a baby or worse yet she'll end up in foster care...

sad just plain sad.

butterfli25 said:

God, this breaks my heart to imagine...

kisscamille said:

I say this provides a strong case for eugenics.

Hopefully that c*nt will get the same meal in prison!

Grrr!

It is amazing that the child instinctively knew how to survive.

Disgusting. Poor child.

I lived on that shit a few days myself

sag10 said:

I thought about that too...

CtheUncanny said:

When you were 2?

sag10 said:

I was under five. And as Damon Wayans said "there were times when i had sleep for dinner"

CtheUncanny said:

Believe me, I so understand this... F'ing mustard sandwiches.

sag10 said:

I'm sure there are alot of us that can relate. I must add my parents never left me alone though. They were always there.

CtheUncanny said:

You see! There is always something good to find in lifes trials and tribulations..

sag10 said:

I agree. The path is usually more fulfilling than the destination. I had a wonderful childhood. Challenging, but wonderful.

CtheUncanny said:

Indeed!

Judge Awards Father Temporary Custody Of Toddler


JACKSONVILLE, Fla., 5:51 p.m. EDT October 1, 2003 - She ate four pieces of chicken, a cheeseburger, mashed potatoes, Cheerios and drank two pints of milk -- that's what a 2-year-old girl left home alone for nearly three weeks did when she got to the hospital, her father said.

Barely more than a day after she was found alone -- apparently for 19 days -- in an Arlington, Fla. apartment, Brianna Lee, 2, was released from the hospital, and into her father's care Wednesday morning.

A juvenile-court judge awarded temporary custody of the child to her father, Ogden Lee, after a brief hearing. "The only thing I can tell you is that she is in good condition," hospital spokesman David Foreman said. The dad -- separated from the mother and in the process of getting a divorce -- found Brianna on Monday, alone and very hungry.

He said he'd been trying to contact his estranged wife for two weeks, then found that she'd been arrested. The mother told her husband she left Brianna with a baby sitter, but couldn't provide a name. Police found no indication an adult was caring for the child.

"Over those 19 days, she remained alone at home. She managed to get into the refrigerator and literally empty the entire bottom half of the refrigerator," Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford said. "There was also a pantry that she had managed to open the door to. She actually tore the label off a couple cans of corn, trying to get into the cans."

Police said she survived by eating mustard, ketchup and raw pasta, and was watching cartoons when found by her father on Monday The child was naked, with dried food all over her. Urine and feces were found throughout the apartment.

She was suffering from malnutrition and dehydration when she arrived at Wolfson Children's Hospital Monday, said David Foreman, a hospital spokesman.

"She's sitting up in the bed and laughing and playing with the nurses," Foreman said the next day.

Brianna's mother, who was already in jail, was charged Monday with aggravated child abuse for leaving the child alone in her apartment, police said. She's being held on $170,000 bond.

When a manager let Ogden Lee into the Spicewood Springs apartment, the youngster was lying in a baby's bathtub with a towel pulled over her and was watching a TV cartoon channel, he said.

"She grabbed me and wouldn't let go of me," Lee told The Florida Times-Union. "It is really a miracle how good a shape my daughter is in. I don't know how she did it."

Lee, 33, said the girl had dragged the food, toys and other things into her mother's bedroom, where he found her.

The mother was at Duval County's Montgomery Correctional facility on charges of aggravated assault and theft for an incident Sept. 8 at a nail salon where she was a regular customer. She made a first appearance on the child abuse charges Tuesday, represented by a public defender, but made no comment.

Ogden Lee said he did not know until Sunday that his estranged wife had been arrested. He said he talked to her by telephone at the jail Sunday and was told his daughter was with neighbors, but not which neighbor.

Lee said he spent Sunday night knocking on neighbors' doors, then got a manager to open the door to his wife's apartment, where he found the child.

"It was the worst that I can imagine," he said. "I don't know how to describe it."

"She's a very sweet little girl -- fun to be around," Sharee Arrington said. "The way I picture her and her child -- they were close. I never though she'd leave that baby in the house by herself."

Patricia Mallon, district manager for administrative services for the Department of Children and Families in Jacksonville, said Tuesday the DCF is reviewing the child's situation to determine where she should be placed.

"I am a 240-pound man and I can't keep from crying," Lee said. "I can't even imagine how hungry she must have been."


http://www.msnbc.com/loca...?0LA=agm9n

there are pictures of the baby on the web site.

un fucking believable.

that bitch knew she had left that baby in the house...how could she sit in jail for 19 days knowing that that baby was alone hungary and in the dark...



they need to make her available for ass whippins!!!

I'm in line

how 'bout you?