Warrant issued for mother accused of leaving daughter in towed car
Warrant issued for mother accused of abandoning daughter
A $50,000 arrest warrant has been issued for the mother accused of leaving her disabled daughter in a car, who was found alive in a tow yard nine days later.
KENT, Wash. - A $50,000 arrest warrant has been issued for the mother accused of leaving her disabled daughter in a car, who was found alive in a tow yard nine days later.
Claudine Williams was charged with second-degree domestic violence abandonment of a dependent person, but she did not show up to her court appointment Tuesday, prompting the judge to issue an arrest warrant.
Court documents released in early May suggest that Williams was facing home and drug problems while legally responsible for her daughter, a 28-year-old woman with cerebral palsy. The two spent some nights sleeping in her car in a Kent gas station parking lot.
Williams told investigators she frequently lost her car keys and would go search for them at a nearby motel. She said she smokes meth a "couple of times a day," and was smoking around the time she returned to the Kent gas station parking lot, only to find her car had been towed, with her daughter still inside.
Court documents say her phone died, and she did not call family members or talk with gas station clerks. She was arrested for violating a protection order issued by her father the day after her car was towed, and was released the next day.
More than a week later, workers at Skyway Towing were alerted to open the car they impounded, where they found the daughter still alive in the backseat, covered by clothes and debris.
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The woman was taken to Valley Medical and treated for life-threatening dehydration, and was reportedly at risk of cardiac arrest, arrhythmia, organ failure and seizures, according to court documents. She has since recovered to stable condition and is on seizure medication, which she lacked while with her mother.
According to court documents, Williams' whereabouts have been unknown since at least charges were filed against her.