Case Dismissed — Mom Off the Hook For Baby Allegedly Left Alone Outside in Cold

JOLIET, IL — The mother of a baby girl left alone in a stroller outside an East Washington Street apartment was released from jail and the case against her has been dropped.

Melissa Vance, 41, was freed Monday evening. She was locked up along with her boyfriend, 35-year-old Kenyatta Franklin, Saturday night after a neighbor found her baby daughter unattended in a stroller in the apartment parking lot, police said.

Vance and Franklin were passed out together on a couch in the apartment, police said.

Franklin remains in custody and faces three counts of child endangerment. His bond was set at $10,000. The charges against Vance, on the other hand, were dismissed.

The decision to drop the charges came after a review of police reports, said Charles B. Pelkie, the spokesman for the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office.

“At this point, we don’t have any evidence that the mom left that child outside or had control of that child or knew that child had been left outside,” Pelkie said.

A neighbor found the little girl alone in parking lot about 7 p.m. Saturday, police said. The child was reportedly unresponsive but breathing, and paramedics transported her to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox.

The cops reportedly figured out the baby’s mother lived in one of the apartments next to the parking lot. Officers knocked on the unlocked door and it swung open, police said, but no one answered. The officers entered the apartment and saw Vance face-down on the couch with Franklin on top of her. The couple was 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 in the stroller when he went to visit someone, and that he stopped at a liquor store on the way home. A receipt from the liquor store showed that the child may have been alone in the parking lot for nearly half an hour, police said. When the little girl was found, she was reportedly wearing an unzipped jacket and no gloves or hat. There was a blanket in the stroller, but it wasn’t covering her, police said.

A Silver Cross doctor reportedly informed police that the baby will be fine despite her ordeal.

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

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

Franklin was charged with child endangerment at least once before, in 2006, according to court records. A judge found him not guilty following a trial.

Melissa Vance | image via Will County Sheriff's Department