Heather Nicole Adkins.Photo: Scott County Detention Center
An Indiana mother is accused of abandoning her 5-year-old son in Ohio before fleeing to Kentucky — and she said in a jailhouse interview that she did it to save the child from her.
Heather Nicole Adkins, 32, was arrested in Georgetown, Ky., on Saturday evening. She has been charged with felony counts of child endangerment and kidnapping.
A driver in Cincinnati spotted the boy — who is nonverbal and has autism — walking alone down the street. He was soaking wet and waving down cars. The driver, Josh Wanderski, called 911.
“It’s a two-lane road, super dark, no lights, very windy, and it was also freezing,” Wanderski toldFox 19. “He was just on the side of the road. He was waving me down. Luckily I was close so that I could call the police.”
“He didn’t really understand what was going on,” Wanderski told the station. “He was really close to the road.”
Colerain Police/Facebook
Adkins was arrested on Saturday in Georgetown, Ky. Police toldWLWTthat she was acting strange at a gas station when they apprehended her. After running Adkins' social security number, police found an outstanding warrant for her arrest in Kentucky for failing to pay a fine. They took her into custody.
According to theCincinnati Inquirer,officers did not yet know that she was wanted on charges in Ohio. When they realized that she was the mother of the boy, they charged her in relation to his alleged abandonment.
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“I’m just trying to understand why you ultimately chose to do that,” the reporter, Jeremy Tombs, asked Adkins.
“To save him from me,” Adkins replied.
The child is in the custody of Hamilton County Job and Family Services.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or1-800-422-4453, or go towww.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
