Baby Girl Left Alone Outside In Cold While Mom Was Passed Out On Couch With Some Guy: Cops

JOLIET, IL — A neighbor found a baby girl left alone in a stroller in an East Washington Street parking lot, police said, and the cops tracked down her mom at home, where she was passed out on the couch with a man.

The 11-month-old child may have been by herself in the parking lot for nearly a half-hour, police said.

A 59-year-old man found the little girl shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday and called the cops, police said. The child was taken to Silver Cross Hospital, and officers reportedly figured out her mother lived in one of the apartments next to the parking lot.

Officers knocked on the unlocked door and it opened, police said, but no one answered. The officers entered the apartment and saw 41-year-old Melissa Vance face-down on a couch and 35-year-old Kenyatta Franklin on top of her. Vance and Franklin were passed out, police said, and it took some effort to rouse them.

Vance and Franklin both smelled of alcohol, police said. Franklin was reportedly disoriented when he came to. Officers asked Vance if she knew where her child was, police said, but she passed out again before she could answer.

The officers reportedly determined that Franklin had taken the child along when he went to visit someone and that he stopped at a liquor store on the way home.

The officers found empty Icehouse beer bottles in the apartment, a wine glass and a couple pot pipes, police said. A pot of water was reportedly boiling on the stove.

Vance and Franklin both live in the apartment, according to police, who could not confirm Franklin is the child’s father.

When the little girl was found, she was wearing an unzipped jacket and no gloves or hat, police said. There was reportedly a blanket in the stroller, but it wasn’t covering her.

The temperature at the time was 34.9 degrees, police said, but windchill made it feel below freezing.

A Silver Cross doctor reportedly informed the police that the child would be fine. The police turned her over to the Department of Children and Family Services.

Vance and Franklin were taken to the Will County jail.

Melissa Vance and Kenyatta Franklin | Image via Will County Sheriff's Department