Bowling Green Police Division responded to a report Wednesday morning of a little girl with no clothes playing in a ditch in the 1500 block of Clough Street.
When police arrived, several people were outside near the ditch, and a man was crossing the ditch with the 5-year-old girl wrapped in a blanket. The man reported to police that it appeared the little girl was mimicking taking a bath in the water. The girl was very cold, and was unsure how long she had been in the water.
Her mother, Alayna Rost, 26, arrived at the scene, and told police that the little girl is non-communicative and autistic. The mother said the girl fell asleep around 8 a.m., and since she is up all hours of the night, the mother said she sleeps when she can, and had laid down with her daughter. Rost said she did not know her daughter woke up and left the apartment until the police arrived.
Upon further investigation, it was found that the child had climbed up a wall mounted heater unit onto the kitchen window. She pushed out the screen to get out of the apartment. Rost said she had taken the girl for a walk the day before by the ditch, and she became upset that she was not allowed to play in the water.
A previous incident occurred on July 5, 2020, when the child left the apartment. The mother said she was taking a shower when her daughter went out the front door and wandered around the apartment complex. Rost said she immediately went outside and located the child, and went to the complex management and requested permission to add locks to her door. The mom said she thought the new locks higher up on the door would prevent her daughter from leaving – and up until Wednesday they had.
Police charged Rost with endangering children and reported the incident to Wood County Children’s Services.
