The caregiver of a missing 4-year-old Oklahoma girl was arrested two days after a postal worker found the girl’s older sister wandering alone near her home, authorities said.
Multiple law enforcement agencies have been searching for Athena Brownfield since Tuesday, the Oklahoma State Office of Investigation (OSBI) said in a facebook post.
Alysia Adams, 31, was arrested Thursday afternoon at the Grady County Sheriff’s Office on two counts of child neglect, OSBI said. The agency described Adams as a caretaker, but did not specify her relationship to Athena.
The two girls had been in the care of Adams and her husband, authorities said.
A postal worker saw Athena’s 5-year-old sister alone outside Adams’ home in the town of Cyril around 2 p.m. Tuesday and called police, OSBI said.
«At that point, we became aware that another child was missing,» Brook Arbeitman, a spokesman for the agency, said at a news conference.
Authorities have released few details about the incident. When a reporter asked Arbeitman if Athena’s parents were home at the time she was reported missing, Arbeitman said the focus right now remains on finding the girl.
«Finding out who is responsible will be next, but we need to find this girl,» Arbeitman said.
A search of the family’s home was conducted, which Arbeitman says is standard procedure.
Garbage service in town has been postponed while investigators search for clues to Athena’s location. KFOR, an NBC affiliate Oklahoma City reported.
OSBI and volunteers spent Wednesday searching for vacant homes and waterways. Search dogs were also brought in to help. Authorities asked residents of Cyril, a town about 80 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, to take any security camera video they may have to a command center at Family Life Church. Residents were also told to search their properties.
“Police continue to conduct interviews and review surveillance video in an effort to locate Athena,” OSBI said.
Athena was last known to be wearing a pink butterfly sweater and pink pants, according to a missing person poster. Arbeitman said he has «limited verbal abilities.»
Clara Cardona contributed.