Police: 7-Year-Old Girl Says Her Mother Told Her To Hide In Dumpster
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A mother remains in the Dallas County jail Monday evening charged with child abandonment.
Dallas police say Alicia Carroll has a history with child protective services, but didn't specify.
New surveillance video shows Alicia Carroll and her 7-year-old daughter checking in at King Spa Saturday for an evening of fun in the indoor pool.
Manager Hyun Kim says everything seemed fine. "One of our employees remembered they hugged a lot each other and the mother and daughter seemed to have a happy, good relationship."
Surveillance video shows Carroll and her daughter in yellow clothing leaving just after 9:15 Saturday night. The manager says the mother was intoxicated.
Carroll told police she left her daughter with a friend, who refused to return her. She also said she couldn't remember what happened after leaving King Spa with her daughter.
But her arrest affidavit fills in many details. It was by this wooded area and creek, where court documents say the 7-year-old girl told police she and her mother were walking when suddenly they started running, and her mother told her to get into a dumpster.
That's because she said police were chasing them. The girl told police her mother helped her get into the dumpster, where police say she spent the night, by herself.
Police say they found the little girl walking back to King Spa Sunday morning after climbing out of the dumpster.
She was filthy, hungry, and thirsty with scrapes on her arms and legs.
Major Robert Sherwin of the Dallas Police Department says, "Physically, she was fine. I think she was scared and frightened, she didn't know where she was and her mother had told her to hide in the dumpster."
Police say Carroll returned to King Spa Sunday morning looking for her daughter and called police when she couldn't find her.
Investigators say Carroll wouldn't get to see her daughter after she was found because police were conducting their investigation.
Kim says, "I have two daughters and I can't believe this happened."
Detectives say the little girl is staying with a relative.
Investigators say Carroll works at a daycare, but aren't sure which one. Carroll's mother declined comment.
