Toddler 'doing well' after nearly 3 weeks alone
Tuesday, September 30, 2003 Posted: 11:38
AM EDT (1538 GMT)
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Dakeysha Lee Story Tools
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JACKSONVILLE, Florida (CNN) -- After spending nearly three weeks alone and surviving on raw pasta, mustard and ketchup, a 2-year-old Jacksonville, Florida, girl was in good spirits Tuesday morning at a hospital, officials told CNN.
"The child is doing well," said David Foreman, a spokesman for Wolfson Children's Hospital, where the toddler was brought for treatment. "She was sitting up this morning, talking and laughing with the nurses."
Officer Ken Jefferson, spokesman for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, said the little girl was brought to the hospital Monday, suffering from malnutrition, after an officer responded to a call from the child's father, Ogden Lee.
Lee, 33, was at the apartment of his estranged wife, 22-year-old Dakeysha Lee, who has been incarcerated since September 10. He told the responding officer that the apartment manager had let him into the apartment, where he found his daughter.
"The child basically survived on raw pasta, mustard, ketchup," Jefferson said.
Lee told the officer that he had been seeking a divorce from the mother and "had limited contact with his daughter during this process."
"After having no contact for several weeks, he vigorously tried to make contact," the police report said.
Jefferson said the mother was charged Monday with an intentional act of child abuse for leaving her daughter alone, notifying no one of the circumstances.
She will appear at an arraignment hearing Tuesday morning, he said.
According to records from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Dakeysha Lee had a pair of misdemeanor arrests as a juvenile, and was serving time for shoplifting and a bad check, both misdemeanors.
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