Heartbreaking Neglect: Mother Arrested After Autistic Daughter Found Wandering Alone in Leesburg

It's a scenario that chills you to the bone, isn't it? Imagine a 13-year-old girl, autistic and unable to speak, wandering completely alone in a busy shopping center parking lot in Leesburg, Florida. That’s exactly what happened earlier this month, leading to the arrest of her own mother, Amy Brooke Evans, on charges of child abuse by simple neglect.

The distressing discovery unfolded near Ollie's on West North Boulevard. Witnesses, understandably alarmed, found the young girl—wearing just one shoe, her diaper heavily soiled to the point of appearing unchanged for at least a full day. There was fecal residue on her body, her clothing, and even smeared on a jacket she was carrying. It’s a truly heartbreaking image to conjure. Naturally, these good Samaritans immediately brought her into a nearby department store and called 911.

When officers from the Leesburg Police Department arrived, their observations only deepened the concern. They noted multiple bruises and wounds across the child's arms, legs, and hands. Later, hospital staff would discover a burn on her left arm, tragically consistent with a cigarette burn, along with other scars and bruises, though some might have been self-inflicted given her condition.

Now, here's where the timeline gets particularly troubling. While officers were already on scene tending to the vulnerable child, her mother, 40-year-old Amy Brooke Evans, finally called 911. But not right away. She placed that call approximately 35 minutes after police were initially dispatched to the store, reporting her daughter missing for about an hour. Thirty-five minutes, after your nonverbal, autistic child has been found by strangers, is a significant delay, to say the least.

Evans told investigators that she had been in the shower for "no more than an hour" and claimed her boyfriend was asleep when her daughter went missing. She supposedly realized the child was gone only after her shower. But her behavior during questioning quickly raised eyebrows. Officers described Evans as "apprehensive, fidgeting, leaning excessively, and would 'zone out,'" leading them to suspect she might have been under the influence of narcotics. She also declined to give a written statement and offered inconsistent answers about her place of residence.

The inconsistencies didn't stop there. Evans reportedly showed police a photo of her daughter taken a year prior, bizarrely claiming the child became autistic and nonverbal "out of the blue." And if that wasn't enough to cause concern, a roommate reportedly told investigators that Evans seemed "more concerned with taking a shower first and becoming presentable before calling the police." The roommate also shared a disturbing detail: the child "always appears dirty and unkempt."

Ultimately, investigators concluded that Amy Brooke Evans had willfully failed in her fundamental duty to provide the required supervision and care for her child. The Department of Children and Families (DCF) was notified, as you'd expect in such a severe case. Evans was taken into custody earlier this month and booked into Lake County Jail, where she was held on a $10,000 bond. Her arraignment hearing is set for August 3rd. It's truly a heart-wrenching situation, a stark reminder of the importance of protecting our most vulnerable, and a case that leaves you with so many unsettling questions.