Rebekah Lajaunie, the 35-year-old mother of two in Youngsville, Louisiana, pictured above, has been arrested and charged with child desertion after police found her 4-year-old daughter wandering the streets “about three houses down from where she lives,” KATC reports .
The news site also noted that after the officers had secured the child’s safety, they took her back to the house and knocked on the door but received no answer. Concerned, they forced their way inside and found an unattended 3-month-old infant and the mother, Lajaunie, passed out on the toilet.
Upon questioning, Rebekah Lajaunie admitted to mixing anti-depressants and alcohol. Authorities booked her on two counts of child desertion as well as some outstanding warrants she had from St. Landry Parish.
The Department of Child and Family Services took the children into custody, but it isn’t clear what their future might be since much depends on the outcome of their mother’s charges.
In a separate report from the Advertiser , Lajaunie admitted that the drug she had mixed with alcohol was Lexi-Pro.
While cases like this are disheartening for people who love children, this one could have ended much worse given the circumstances. Take, for instance, a previous Inquisitr story on the case of Tyecka Evans .
In that case, the 28-year-old mother of three left her 9-year-old to watch two babies while she went out clubbing, police said.
In the older child’s care were a 1-year-old and a 3-month-old. The 3-month-old at one point “became trapped with her head stuck in a plastic bag” and died as a result.
Initially, Tyecka indicated that she’d fallen asleep while her daughter was “sleeping on a blanket and boppy pillow.” When Evans awoke, she found the child not breathing with her head inside a plastic bag.
However, police claim to have surveillance footage of Tyecka Evans coming home at 2:36 a.m. From the footage, they allege, it’s clear that there were no adults left with the child.
In the footage, she is seen running upstairs but then flagging her sister to come up to her apartment.
“There was no adult left on scene with these children. They were left alone and the most horrible thing that can happen did,” Ocala Police Sgt. Amy Scroble said.
What do you think about cases like this and that of Rebekah Lajaunie, readers? Should child desertion automatically result in the loss of your parental rights? Sound off in the comments section.
[Image of Rebekah Lajaunie via KATC , linked above]
