A Kentucky mom called 911 when she woke up and couldn’t find her 9-year-old, and police say the girl had been locked outside for 17 hours

A 9-year-old girl in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, was allegedly locked outside her home for roughly 17 hours after her mother returned from a party and fell asleep inside, according to WHOP. Ashland Killebrew has been charged with second-degree criminal abuse or neglect of a child under 12. The allegations have not been proven in court, and no plea has been publicly reported.

Hopkinsville police said Killebrew and her daughter arrived home from the party at about 10 p.m. on Thursday, September 24. Killebrew told officers she was so intoxicated that she locked the door and passed out inside, believing her daughter was with her, according to the arrest report. Police say the child remained locked outside while her mother slept.

The girl told officers she pounded on the door repeatedly but never got an answer. Police said Killebrew woke up on Friday morning, could not find her daughter, and called 911. Officers then located the child and spoke with her, and the report records her saying the door had been locked.

Police say the mother believed her daughter was right behind her

According to the arrest report, Killebrew told officers she “could not find her daughter in the house” after waking up. Investigators concluded the girl had been locked outside for approximately 17 hours. As 17 hours from 10 p.m. on Thursday would stretch into Friday afternoon, that estimate does not line up neatly with the account of Killebrew calling 911 after waking up that morning. However, the available reports do not explain the gap, so the exact amount of time the girl spent locked outside remains unclear.

Several other basic details have not been made public. The reports do not say where the girl was found, whether another adult helped her during that time, or whether she was injured. Nothing has been released about whose party it was, how long Killebrew and her daughter stayed, or how they got home afterward. Police have also not said who is caring for the girl now, and the girl’s condition since the incident has not been described publicly.

Killebrew was taken into custody and charged, and the arrest report is currently the main public account of that night. It rests on what Killebrew and her daughter told officers, as no statements from other adults, neighbors, or relatives have been made public. Those gaps could be filled in as the case moves through court.

Christian County jail records list the charge as second-degree criminal abuse or neglect of a child under 12, with bond set at $5,000. The offense is a Class D felony in Kentucky, which can carry up to five years in prison. The charge can apply when a child 12 or younger is placed in a situation that may cause serious physical injury, so prosecutors do not necessarily have to show that the girl was actually hurt.

Kentucky law defines the offense as wanton abuse, a standard that turns on whether a person consciously disregards a substantial risk. How that standard applies to Killebrew’s statement that she thought her daughter was with her will be for the court to decide. However, Killebrew has not been convicted, and the claims in the arrest report have yet to be tested.

A preliminary hearing is generally where a judge decides whether there is enough evidence to send a felony case forward, and prosecutors typically present only a limited portion of their case at that stage. Killebrew is scheduled to appear for hers on October 2, which will be the first step in moving the case toward further court proceedings.

The October 2 hearing could offer the first official answers on how long the girl was locked outside and where officers found her. Another child neglect arrest this week involved a Florida mother accused of leaving four children home alone during a cruise.