Background: Alexandria Drive area in Reedsville, West Virginia (via Google Maps). Inset: Danielle Lee Murray (Tygart Valley Regional Jail).
In West Virginia, a woman faces allegations of abandoning her 5-year-old son near a busy thoroughfare while attempting to steal a car right in front of its owner.
The suspect, 37-year-old Danielle Lee Murray, is currently held at Tygart Valley Regional Jail with a bond set at $25,000.
According to WBOY’s report, an affiliate of NBC and ABC, she faces charges of child neglect.
The incident came to light on June 4 when a resident of Alexandria Drive in Reedsville, located in Preston County in northern West Virginia, reportedly caught someone in the act of attempting to take their car.
The vehicle owner called law enforcement and said a woman — alleged to be Murray — got into their car “and tried to steal it.”
The caller noted that the suspect was a “female [who] seems a ‘bit off’,” according to a criminal complaint obtained by the local TV station. Furthermore, the woman was “unsteady” and unable to stand upright.
Troopers with the West Virginia State Police responded to the area and noticed Murray walking about a mile away toward a gas station. They apparently already identified her as their suspect, because they asked her if she was indeed Murray, and though she said “no,” they identified that she was.
In the time that Murray allegedly tried to steal the car and then walked toward the gas station, she left a young child who was in her care “outside with no one supervising” at an apartment complex with a “heavy traffic of cars,” law enforcement said. One neighbor said the boy was “freaking out looking for” his mother, per the complaint.
The child was 5 years old and had autism, area CBS affiliate WDTV reported.
Another family member of the boy took custody of him, authorities noted. Murray was arrested and booked into jail.