A 9-year-old girl in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, spent 17 hours locked outside her home after her mother came back from a party too drunk to remember the child hadn’t followed her inside, according to police.
Officers say Ashland Killebrew’s daughter told investigators she pounded on the front door of the house again and again, trying to rouse her mother, but got no response. The Hopkinsville Police Department says the pair had been at a party together where Killebrew had been drinking.
According to an arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, Killebrew arrived home with her daughter around 10 p.m. Thursday. She went inside the house but left the girl outside, and in her intoxicated state, apparently lost track of the fact that her daughter hadn’t come in with her.
“Killebrew stated that she returned home from a party with her 9-year-old daughter at approximately … then locked the door and was so intoxicated that she passed out inside, thinking that her daughter was with her,” the affidavit alleges.
Police say Killebrew didn’t realize her daughter was missing until the following morning. Once she woke up and couldn’t find the girl in the house, she called 911.
“Officers located and talked to her daughter, who stated that the door was locked,” the arrest report states. “The daughter beat on the door with no answer multiple times.”
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Investigators concluded that the child had been locked outside for roughly 17 hours straight before she was found.
Killebrew was arrested and charged with second-degree criminal abuse or neglect of a child under 12. She’s scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 2 for a preliminary hearing.
