Background: News footage of the apartment in Mableton, Ga., where neighbors found Hailey Saunders' son (WSB). Inset: Hailey Saunders (Cobb County Sheriff's Office).
A Georgia woman is behind bars after neighbors told police they found her 5-year-old son by himself outside their apartment building.
Hailey Saunders, 23, is still in custody at the Cobb County Jail after being charged with cruelty to a child and reckless conduct on Monday. According to an arrest warrant obtained by local ABC affiliate WSB, Saunders' neighbors at the apartment building in Mableton, Georgia, called police after finding the boy by himself and "screaming for help." The boy reportedly told the adults who came to his aid that he woke up to find that his mother and younger brother were no longer in the house.
Some of those neighbors spoke to WSB and said they heard the boy screaming outside before midnight on Sunday.
WSB reported that none of the neighbors wanted to be identified for fear of retaliation. One neighbor told the station that the boy was yelling so loudly that her "heart was about to pop out." She ran outside to find the boy and another neighbor had already reached him. A third neighbor also ran out to help him.
The first neighbor who spoke to WSB said the boy told her, "He just woke up and his mommy was gone. He was by himself and he was crying." She called 911 and first responders arrived about 40 minutes later. The neighbors fed the boy water and chips.
Police said in the warrant that the boy's father eventually showed up, and around 2 a.m., Saunders arrived. She was arrested and booked into the Cobb County Jail, where she is being held without bond. Her next court date was not available.
WSB reported that the boy's father took custody of his son.
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