The incident happened on Sunday in Riverside, Calif., where what was initially an unknown woman abandoned her two-year-old daughter in a Food 4 less store, located at 4250 Van Buren Boulevard. The young girl was placed in the custody of Child Protective Services. On Monday, police were still trying to identify the woman and had asked the public for help.
According to a surveillance video in the Food 4 Less, a woman was seen entering the store at 6 p.m. with a small child trailing behind her. Later, that same woman could be seen again, checking out with her purchases, but without her child.
A Good Samaritan noticed the child wander away from her mother in the Food 4 Less
NBC Los Angeles reported that according to a witness in the grocery store, the toddler had wandered away for from her mother a previous time and the Good Samaritan took the child up to the mother to let her know her daughter had gone astray. The mother simply responded tersely, “Just leave her,” and carried on with her shopping. The child evidently went astray for a second time. As was seen on the surveillance video, the woman eventually paid for her groceries and left the store, alone. At that point in the video there was no sign of her young daughter.
New footage of mom suspected of leaving child in Riverside Food 4 Less. Story: https://t.co/RDNhYI091n pic.twitter.com/ZsMcUPKMop
— Anne Millerbernd (@annieanyway) March 14, 2017
According to Riverside police, the two-year-old had been intentionally left behind in the store.
The toddler was later shown the surveillance video by the police and she immediately pointed to the woman pictured and identified her as being her “mommy.”
The mother has been identified, but is not yet under arrest
As reported by Eyewitness News, the woman who abandoned her two-year-old daughter was identified on Tuesday by Riverside police as Chiengkham Vilaysane, 31.
Riverside police said that Vilaysane is not, at this time, under arrest. However, the Riverside Police Department did initially say the woman may face child abandonment and child endangerment charges, if it was found that her actions were intentional.
Officer Ryan Railsback of the Riverside police said in a statement how tragic the incident was. Railsback said it is hard to imagine why any parent would walk away from a child like this, leaving them alone in a busy food store.
