A 9-year-old girl in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, was allegedly locked outside her home for roughly 17 hours after her mother returned from a party and fell asleep inside, according to WHOP. Ashland Killebrew has been charged with second-degree criminal abuse or neglect of a child under 12. The allegations have not been proven in court, and no plea has been publicly reported.
Hopkinsville police said Killebrew and her daughter arrived home from the party at about 10 p.m. on Thursday, September 24. Killebrew told officers she was so intoxicated that she locked the door and passed out inside, believing her daughter was with her, according to the arrest report. Police say the child remained locked outside while her mother slept.
The girl told officers she pounded on the door repeatedly but never got an answer. Police said Killebrew woke up on Friday morning, could not find her daughter, and called 911. Officers then located the child and spoke with her, and the report records her saying the door had been locked.
Police say the mother believed her daughter was right behind her
According to the arrest report, Killebrew told officers she “could not find her daughter in the house” after waking up. Investigators concluded the girl had been locked outside for approximately 17 hours. As 17 hours from 10 p.m. on Thursday would stretch into Friday afternoon, that estimate does not line up neatly with the account of Killebrew calling 911 after waking up that morning. However, the available reports do not explain the gap, so the exact amount of time the girl spent locked outside remains unclear.
Several other basic details have not been made public. The reports do not say where the girl was found, whether another adult helped her during that time, or whether she was injured. Nothing has been released about whose party it was, how long Killebrew and her daughter stayed, or how they got home afterward. Police have also not said who is caring for the girl now, and the girl’s condition since the incident has not been described publicly…