Mother charged with child abuse, child remains found

By Bivian Contreras, Faith Abercrombie

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    TUCSON, Arizona (KGUN) — Tucson police responded to a report of a found child on Thursday, March 23.

The incident took place around 4:30 p.m. on S. Monrovia Ave., near East Drexel Road and South Campbell Avenue.

According to TPD, a 4-year-old was found running across the street.

While officers were gathering information, the mother, 24-year-old Katie Luna Hernandez, arrived back at the home.

TPD says she left her two children, one 4 years old and another 9 months old, home alone.

Arizona Department of Child Safety took custody of the children.

On March 24, detectives discovered Hernandez had a third child, a 2-year-old boy.

A warrant was issued to search the residence on South Monrovia Avenue where the remains of the child were found hidden inside the home.

Suspected fentanyl and narcotic paraphernalia were found when police searched her home as well.

Neighbors say they had no idea 3 children even lived in the home.

“I never knew there were any kids there at all.”

KGUN 9 spoke with the woman who found the 4-year-old running in the street.

She said, “She didn’t have no shoes, no socks, no pants and somebody put like a big shirt on her.”

The neighbor wanted to stay anonymous because of safety concerns.

She said she was in the right place at the right time.

“My husband and I were saying like we saved this little girl’s life because for some reason God put her in our path and she’s safe now wherever she’s at,” she said.

Hernandez was charged with two felony counts of Child Abuse and booked into the Pima County Jail.

Additional charges are pending at this time.

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