WATERVILLE, Maine — A 2-year-old boy was found playing alone on the side of the road Tuesday morning.
Waterville police Sgt. Dan Ames said a FairPoint Communications worker and a local businessman called police at 8:30 a.m. to report the child on Appleton Street.
Ames said Officer Galen Estes and Sgt. Alan Main attempted to find the residence where the child came from.
“They brought the child back to the police station for safe keeping and to keep the child warm while they continued searching for the residence,” said Ames.
Police made photocopies of a picture of the child and went door to door.
“They randomly knocked on doors and they did identify the mother on the second floor of an Appleton [Street] apartment building,” Ames said. “She identified the picture. She quickly came down to the station and was reunited with her child.”
The mother said the child had never left the house on his own before.
“She didn’t know the child was gone [when police knocked on her door],” said Ames. “She was caring for another infant and hadn’t gotten to check on the other child yet.”
It was one hour and 46 minutes from the time police received the call to the time the mother was identified, said Ames.
How the heck can you not know where your very young child is for almost two hours?
Maybe he had been sleeping and snuck out on his own but I doubt we will ever know what really happened.
way to be dialed in to what is going on with your 2 year old.
Waterville is the new Lewiston.
Ya right she did not know after almost 2 hours her child was not home? What did she think he was doing? Just does not add up.
Another superb show of parenting.
and they very rarely only have one child.
And, they complain about same-sex couples having kids? At least ours don’t come about from a weekend of vodka and regret.
Where do you think yours came from?
Not many loving and capable mothers giving their babies up.
Nothing against same-sex parents, just saying your comment is a little off.
Oh, there is some of that, I am sure. Not in my case as it was all planned. But, my point is that there are lots of complaints about how being raised by SS couples harms the child, when very often, perhaps too often, couples have kids, unplanned, and often do not have the skill-set to raise kids. We have no idea what the circumstances are here with this mother but I will give her the benefit of the doubt for the moment.
It is the contrast between planning for children and just having them willy-nilly is what I was trying to point out. I would think that planned children fare as equally as well as those that arrive unexpectedly, thus defending my point on SS couples having kids as these certainly are planned.
Maybe Ayla was watching out for him so he was found safe.:(
I’m glad the child is alright and kudos to the attentive folks who discovered the child and the quick action of police to reunite the child with the mom. I can only hope she’s more attentive in the future.
Never wake a sleeping child. But you might want to peek in on them once in a while. Damn.
They are lucky that someone didn’t abduct this child!!!…then again something tells me they wouldn’t even care :/
That’s extremely harsh and uncalled for. A lapse in attention, even for two hours, while caring for an infant certainly doesn’t mean the two-year-old was uncared for and that abduction (extremely unlikely, btw- hardly luck) wouldn’t have been unwelcome.
What is this with Waterville kids? If you can’t raise your kid, give him/her to someone who knows how!
Back in the 1970’s during a prolonged economic downturn in Waterville (a town its own mayor called “a cultural wasteland”), those of us who could leave, did. Those who could not, stayed. The results speak for themselves.
Almost 2 hours from the time the call was made until they found the mother, and yet she had no clue?? So lets say he was outside the house for 15 minutes, that puts the time at well over 2 hours!! Who doesn’t check on their child for over 2 hours? Didn’t it seem funny that there was no sound of him playing or anything?? Wow. Waterville is getting a bad name thanks to all these so called parents who couldn’t, and shouldn’t, even watch a dog!!
What is wrong with the cops and DHHS? They gave the kid, a 2 yr old, 24 months… back to the egg donor that never knew he was missing? And you wonder why Ayla disappeared ? Same answer DHHS needs a total and complete WIPE OUT!
Maybe drug testing should be mandatory for those watching the child in cases where they find small children wandering the streets alone.
You mean you think “authorities” should steal a child from his mother because the kid sneaked out while she was busy elsewhere? Ridiculous.
I used to sneak out when I was little, thinking I’d go visit my father at work (which was 20 miles away). Several times my mother had to call the police to find me, but I’d only be a block or so away.
She had other children to look after and cook for and iron and wash, etc., etc.
I can understand the child getting out, but the mother was a bit too long checking on him, even if she thought he was napping.
But stealing her child away for this one-time lapse would be really ludicrous, especially since the child would then face a series of foster homes, some of which are questionable.
There must be a reason the police felt it was safe to give the child back to the mother. Maybe Bangor Daily left some of the information out? Maybe they were trying to stir things up to . . . I don’t know. . . SELL PAPERS!!!
What is wrong with people and their children in Waterville, do they never check on their children in the mornings, come on he 2 years old, and you hadnt checked on him for almost 2 hours!!!….wonder if she will get mother of the year award!
when I had an infant to care for, my 2 and a half year old snuck out in the mornings all the time. he figured out how to open the door to go out, and how to undo the locks on the screen doors (not all at the same time). I thought he was still sleeping. about the third time he went out we put up a locked fence around the yard and additional locks out of reach on the door. (i say third time because both screen doors had different locks and he had only figured out one. i thought i had been careful enough not to let him see how the other one worked….i was unsuccessful) Sad to say, but these things happen occasionally. It does not mean that the persons a bad parent. Thankfully nothing happened to this little one and he was safely returned to his mother. And i can guarantee that she will be taking the precautions to make sure it doesn’t happen again. All it takes is one time to realize your kid is smarter than you thought….
I don’t think it’s so much the fact that he snuck out (I can see how that’s possible, as you said). I think the scary part is that it was 1 hour and 46 minutes before she noticed he was missing (and it’s not like they were napping as she herself claims she was caring for the other infant.
A two year old is missing from your home for 2 hours and you don’t notice? Anyone who can justify that is a terrible parent. If you have had similar experiences as a parent, shame on you. I have a 13 year old brother that would pay better attention to my toddler.
To the woman in the article above:
DO NOT HAVE ANY MORE KIDS!
She didn’t know the child was gone?? In the same town Ayla disappeared at. I think CPS needs to go check this out.
This happened in my town couple weeks ago and this girl lives down a long driveway and someone saw the 3year old on the side of the road took him to her house and called police the mom did call first reporting him missing. Scarey feeling
put down the salts and do some parenting!
Good Lord!!–And that’s enough said!!!!
See how easy it can happen? No matter whose fault it was the outcome could have been the same as with Ayla. Good job Waterville Police.
Wow, I did not know so many perfect people posted to BDN. You guys need to get off your high horses and realize that this kind of thing happens often, and thankfully like this episode, ends just fine.
My own son at just under 2 decided to set off on his own one day while he was supposed to be napping. He built a couch cushion ladder so he could reach the deadbolt at the top of the door and let himself out. BTW, there were 3 adults in the home, none of us more than 15ft away from him; two were in the kitchen and I was working in my office. We do not know how long he was out of the house, we guess maybe 15-30 minutes. An angel who happened to be driving down the road spotted our boy and returned him safely to us.
Small children, especially bright and inquisitive ones can be master escape artists. Don’t make character judgments about people you do not know. I promise you, your attitude will come back to bite you on the butt.
>>>>
I did this to my mom as well when I was a child and I managed to get out into the street that we lived basically on top of, my mom was an awesome parent, kids are just very sneaky sometimes.
I don’t understand how these other people who commented cannot understand this, it just saddens me that some people are so quick to judgement. How many times in the paper has there been an article and people just jump on a bandwagon convicting somebody.
Sorry but almost 2 hrs had passed before the mother was found and she still wasnt aware the child was missing when police arrived which would have been around 1015 am. No excuses here bad parenting.
It was only about 2 hours because police knocked on the door. Who knows how much longer it might have been before she realized a child was gone.
just saying…
I think if you teach your kid that they are NEVER aloowed to touch door knobs, than you will not have to wonder or worry if they snuck out.
Doors are dangerous. They are also dirty.
I see a few have mentioned that their kid snuck out multiple times, A warm bottom may make them realize, it is dangerous to touch doors and take off with out mommy. It is seriously dangerous!!
there is no excuse for not checking on a two year old for two hours thats neglect she should be charged .sleeping should be done while your child is sleeping thats what I did never lost a child once.
And Ayla Reynolds COULDN’T have wandered off by herself, huh?