ORLANDO, Fla. — WFTV was told a babysitter tired from working an overnight shift fell asleep, and that's how a 2-year-old was able to put her boots on and wander away from a unit at the Nassau Bay apartment complex.
"Parents do fall asleep and your kid's sitting there, but when you wake up and the kid is not in your eyesight, you're tripping,'" neighbor Melody Purtee said.
Police and Department of Children and Families are still not releasing any names in the case but said the girl is in her sister's care because her mother is ill.
The sister doesn't have money for day care, so when she had to go to work Wednesday, she left the toddler at a friend's house.
Neighbors said they are glad a maintenance worker found her and no one else.
"It's sad if she would have got snatched up," neighbor Joshua Williams said.
It took investigators hours to find out who the little girl belonged to since she couldn't tell them her name, and only responded "yes" and "no" to questions.
However, she did show them how she put her shoes on and left the house all by herself.
Although DCF said it doesn't have any prior issues with the family, several neighbors said this isn't the first time the girl has been seen by herself.
"One Saturday morning me and my mom were going out and she was out there by herself," resident Tamika Taylor said.
DCF told Channel 9 it will investigate those claims, but think the best thing for now is to help the family get child care and better locks for their door.