Babysitters arrested after 3-year-old found wandering along busy Kennewick street

Two people are in jail for letting a 3-year-old wander alone near busy 10th Avenue Wednesday morning.

Passersby spotted the girl around West 10th Avenue and South Olympia Street at 9:30 a.m. and called police.

The lost child was trying to find her home, police said.

Officers picked her up and turned the child over to Child Protective Services while officers searched for her caregivers.

After spending two hours looking, police posted her picture on Facebook with a plea for help finding her parents.

The post was shared more than 7,000 times and had 900 comments and 1,400 reactions in two hours.

The girl’s grandmother then showed up at the station, according to police reports.

Her grandmother led them to an home on the 1100 block of 10th Avenue where they found the girl’s babysitters, April Still, 65, and Robert Still, 59. They said they’d been asleep, said police.

They were arrested and booked into Benton County jail on investigation of second-degree criminal mistreatment.

Child Protective Services is talking with the child’s mother.

This story was originally published May 15, 2019 at 2:47 PM.