Bizarre twist after woman caught leaving toddler on stranger's doorstep
A woman who was filmed dropping a two-year-old boy at a random doorstep before running off has insisted she wasn’t abandoning the toddler.
Keairra Woods was seen running to the front door of a Houston home on Wednesday night with the child in one hand two bags in the other.
She dropped the bags, rang the doorbell and sprinted back to her car before fleeing the scene, leaving the visibly confused child looking back.
When the owner of the house came to the front door, she found the unidentified child standing there by himself, authorities said.
Child Protective Services took custody of the toddler and later placed him in a foster home as they investigated the situation.
The doorbell security footage quickly circulated went viral after the Montgomery County Sherriff’s Office shared the 23-second video in their search for information.
Ms Woods later came forward saying she had “been destroyed” by the allegations before trying to explain her actions.
She told KTRK-TV that the child’s mother, who is her best friend’s aunt, asked her to drop the child off at his father’s house. She said she was warned that the boy’s stepmother has a restraining order against the mother.
However, neither the father or stepmother came to the door. Ms Woods had dropped the child off at the next-door neighbour’s house as a result of what she claims were poor directions from the mother.
“The only reason I took off running was because it was chilly outside and I didn’t have no sweater on, as you can see in the video,” she told the station.
“I never ran off and just left him there without even seeing if somebody came to the door. The woman [inside the house] was halfway to the door.
“At the end of the day… it’s really the mother’s fault.”
Child Protective Servies will now decide who the child will be returned to as the investigation continues.