A mum has been accused of endangering the life of a minor after she allegedly left her own toddler inside a freezing car while she enjoyed a ‘romantic rendezvous’ in a hotel. Lillian Johnson, 38, was arrested on a first-degree charge of endangering the welfare of a child in Alaska.
The incident unfolded on the evening of March 18 after police received a call from a concerned citizen who heard a child crying in a parked car outside a bar and hotel in Healy. When officers arrived on the scene, they discovered a 20-month-old toddler visibly upset in a vehicle.
There was no heat on inside and a window was slightly open, while the temperature outside was a freezing -14C. Paramedics removed the child from the car and treated them for “early stages of hypothermia”, before taking them to the “EMS/Fire Department” for more treatment.
Johnson was not “immediately found” when the toddler was removed from the scene and did not leave the hotel until after medics had taken away her child, Alaska State Police said. An investigation was launched as police obtained hotel security video from that night.
Footage appeared to show Johnson inside the hotel for around 35 minutes roughly between the hours of 8:18pm and 8:53pm. It is then alleged that she went to check on her child, only to find the car was empty.
Authorities allege that the mum had “left her child in the car to have a romantic rendezvous with a guest at the hotel.” Johnson was later arrested, charged and taken to Fairbanks Correctional Center, reports WSAZ.
State police have not released any update on the child’s welfare at the time of writing. The NHS states that hypothermia is a dangerous drop in body temperature below 35C (normal body temperature is around 37C).
It adds that the condition “is a medical emergency that needs to be treated in hospital”. Being exposed to cold weather conditions is a big risk factor in hypothermia.
Symptoms include shivering pale, cold and dry skin and slow breathing. Babies suffering from it may be cold to touch, floppy, unusually quiet and sleepy – and they may also refuse to feed.
Elsewhere in Alaska, three people – including two children – were rescued after miraculously surviving on the wing of a plane for about 12 hours after it crashed on Sunday. The aircraft was partially submerged in the icy Tustumena Lake in rural part of the state.
Terry Godes was one of approximately 12 pilots who headed out to scour the rugged terrain for the Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser, which went missing after taking off in Soldotna. Mr Godes feared the worst but was overwhelmed to see the children, and the male pilot, alive – albeit struggling – on the wing of the plane.
The three victims were taken to hospital but their injuries were not thought to be serious. “It kind of broke my heart to see that, but as I got closer down and lower, I could see that there’s three people on top of the wing.
“They were alive and responsive and moving around,” Mr Godes said, adding the kids waved at him as he flew over the lake. The plane had careered into the frozen lake on Sunday after it lost contact with authorities, following its departure for a recreational sightseeing tour to Skilak Lake.
But the children clambered out of the water and sat together on a wing – which had submerged from the water – and huddled together there for 12 hours to survive. Strangers, including Mr Godes, helped the Alaska Army National Guard rescue the trio.
Mr Godes continued: “They spent a long, cold, dark, wet night out on top of a wing of an airplane that they weren’t planning on. It’s a cold dark place out there at night.”
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