A Florida woman was taken aback Friday afternoon when she noticed a dog wandering through her front yard and discovered an unaccompanied young girl sitting on a chair in her carport. Aquania Aleshia Estes, 27, and her 29-year-old boyfriend Pitrez Floyd are currently in prison.
The neighbor called the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office around 4:30 p.m. Friday after finding the child and dog outside her Deltona home, according to a press release.
According to deputies, the girl told the neighbor she was “hot, thirsty, and hungry.” She brought the girl food, water, toys, and clean clothes while deputies searched for her parents. Cops shared body camera footage of deputies interacting with the girl.
“You do not know if you live around here?” a deputy inquired.
The girl said she was unsure.
“Do not you?” “You do not know mommy and daddy’s names?” the deputy asked.
She gave police the name “Quana.”
“Why did mommy and daddy drop you off by yourself,” the deputy inquired.
The girl stated, “They had to go somewhere.”
She was not sure when they would be back.
“Mommy and daddy needed to go charge their cell phones,” the child told deputies, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by local Fox affiliate WOFL.
She also stated that she did not attend school.
Medical personnel responded to the scene to take the girl’s vital signs, which were normal, according to deputies.
Police apprehended Estes and Floyd about nine hours later, according to the press release. Body camera footage showed deputies incredulous about the situation.
“You leave your kid on the side of the f—in’ road?” asked a deputy.
Estes explained that they were homeless and “live in the forest,” according to the video.
“She got out of where she was staying,” the mother explained. “I was trying to go get some water and food. We have been going through a difficult time.”
Deputies discovered where the family had been living, which consisted of two tents in the woods.
Estes and Floyd were arrested on charges of child desertion and animal abandonment. Both remained in custody as of Sunday morning, each on a $51,000 bond. The girl was placed in the care of her grandparents.