A South Side woman was charged Wednesday after police identified her as the mother of a 1-year-old girl left alone in the vestibule of a Chicago apartment building.
Johnetta Smith, 24, of the 5800 block of South Wolcott Avenue, was charged with felony child abandonment after her 1-year-old daughter was found left alone in a South Side apartment building late Friday.
The girl was found wrapped in a purple blanket around 11:30 p.m. Friday in the vestibule of an apartment in the 8200 block of South Justine Street, according to police.
"When I looked in there that's when I realized there was something laying in there. It was a little baby, a precious baby girl," said Thomas Freeman.
Freeman said the child was left with a bag of diapers and a sippy cup and was laying next to a gas can.
The young girl was taken to Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Center in Evergreen Park and was later released into the custody of the state's Department of Child and Family Services, police said.
