A toddler found in pajamas and wandering in a Van Nuys neighborhood was reunited early Monday with her mother.
The girl was found at 9:45 p.m. Sunday around Hamlin Street and Hazeltine Avenue, said Sgt. Ron Fisher of the Los Angeles Police Department's Van Nuys Station. She told officers her name is Ariel, that she is 3 years old and provided her mother's name, Fisher said.
She also indicated that she went out to play while others in her big white house far away were asleep. The girl's mother, who works an overnight shift, said her daughter wandered away from a daycare facility where she was staying with two other siblings.
Officers spent about an hour-and-a-half driving around the area with the girl in the hope that she would recognize her house. They showed pictures of the girl to people at businesses in the area.
"She was shy at first," Fisher said.
But after playing in a special room for children at the police station "she's in really good spirits."
The child was turned over to the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services, he said.
