Police in Oklahoma arrested the caretaker of a missing four-year-old girl after a postal carrier found her older sister wandering on her own near their home on Tuesday, January 10.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said multiple agencies started searching for four-year-old Athena Brownfield on Tuesday afternoon after the postal worker found her five-year-old sister wandering and called 911.
Police arrested Alysia Adams, 31, on January 12 afternoon and held her on two counts of child negligence. The two young girls were in the care of Adams and her husband when the child was found wandering outside their home in Cyril, according to the police.
Authorities have not disclosed how Adams and her husband became the caretakers of the two children or their relationships with the girls. They did not give information about any additional arrests.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said on Thursday that the police were still looking for the four-year-old.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol issued an AMBER alert for the missing girl on Wednesday to people living within a 15-mile radius of Cyril.
Detectives are working on creating a timeline of when the four-year-old was last seen.
Officers from the Missing and Exploited Children National Center were involved in the search, with state troopers conducting sonar searches of waterways around the area on Wednesday, January 11.
Search efforts also include dogs and drones from the Oklahoma Narcotics Bureau, the Oklahoma Corrections Department, and volunteers helping police conduct a grid search of vacant homes and waterways in the town.
The State Bureau’s Spokesperson, Brook Arbeitman, told reporters they had suspended trash pickup in order to find any additional clues to the girl’s location.
Arbeitman urged residents and businesses to share any information they have or surveillance footage, including doorbell cameras.