Why Texas mom let her daughter sleep in a dumpster

Alicia Carroll of Garland, Texas, was charged with abandoning and endangering a child. Her 7-year-old daughter slept in a dumpster Saturday night. 

A mother has been charged with leaving her 7-year-old daughter to sleep overnight in a dumpster outside a spa in Dallas, police said.

Alicia Carroll of Garland was being held in the Dallas County jail Tuesday on charges of abandoning and endangering a child. Bond for the 28-year-old woman was set at $25,000. A message left with her attorney was not returned.

Dallas police said in a statement that Carroll left the spa in northwest Dallas with her daughter about 10 p.m. Saturday. An arrest warrant affidavit says Carroll began to run, told her daughter the police were after them and to hide in the garbage bin. The girl said that her mom left the dumpster and she fell asleep in the bin waiting for her mother to return. She awoke 10 hours later, climbed out and walked back to the spa Sunday morning. There, officers found her hungry, thirsty, and with scrapes and cuts on her arms and legs.

Meanwhile, Carroll called 911 Sunday morning and reported that she had left her daughter with another person who now was refusing to return her. When confronted with her daughter, Carroll told officers that she had left the spa and drank two glasses of vodka in the parking lot. She told police she then began to walk with her daughter but could remember nothing more.

The girl was examined at a hospital and released to a family member. The case has been referred to Child Protective Services.

Dallas Police Major Rob Sherwin told the Dallas Morning News that he was “just thankful there was no trash service that day,” or police could be looking at an entirely different case.

“You can imagine the level of intoxication you have to be to crawl into a dumpster thinking the police are after you when police would probably make sure you got home … safely,” Sherwin said. “I can only imagine what that level of intoxication is, but it doesn’t excuse her actions.”