Inset: Ashley Boyd (Volusia County Jail). Background: Pet Paradise in Ormond Beach, Florida, the site where authorities discovered her two young children unattended (Google Maps).
In Florida, a 25-year-old woman was taken into custody after authorities reportedly found her young children wandering without supervision on busy streets while she was asleep.
Ashley Brianna Donique Boyd faces charges of two counts of child neglect. According to a probable cause arrest affidavit accessed by Law&Crime, deputies from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office arrived at Pet Paradise in Ormond Beach around 4:30 p.m. on Monday after staff noticed two young boys roaming unsupervised for “several hours.”
The staff provided the boys, aged 4 and 5, with water, which they eagerly drank. They appeared dirty and sweaty, as mentioned in the affidavit. Unable to say where they lived, the employees contacted the police. The deputies gave the boys snacks and water when they mentioned being hungry. When asked about their residence, the boys were unsure but indicated it was “far,” according to the affidavit.
Officers proceeded to Boyd’s residence, nearly a mile away. Upon answering the door, Boyd reportedly thought her children “should be inside.” The officers explained that the kids were actually at Pet Paradise. They highlighted there were several busy roads between her home and the location where the children were found.
Boyd explained to the deputies that she spent the previous night at her boyfriend’s home and returned at approximately 7:30 a.m. The boys were with their grandmother during breakfast before she left for work. Boyd said she put on “Lilo & Stitch” for the children in their room and fell asleep around 12:30 p.m., only waking up when deputies knocked on her door.
Inside the bedroom, deputies reportedly found a bed with no sheets on it. The room was dirty with food waste all over and a large, sharp knife was on top of the bed, according to the affidavit.
Deputies found a previous report involving Boyd that said the boys escaped from their home on July 31. In that incident, Boyd’s boys apparently left the home and were discovered at a neighbor’s home some 30 minutes later.
Boyd mentioned the incident to deputies, noting that she was “warned” about the kids escaping again and the “consequences it could have,” per the complaint. She was arrested and taken to the Volusia County Jail from which she has since been released. The kids were turned over to their grandmother.
The suspect is next slated to appear in court on Oct. 21.
