PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — A Peoria woman is out of the Peoria County Jail after she was arrested early Saturday morning because her 2-year-old son had gotten out of her house and walking in the rain on Harmon Highway.
Kassandra Zombro, 31, of the 3700 block of West Lincoln Avenue was released Saturday, hours after she was booked on charges of endangering the life and health of a child. She has not been formally charged in Peoria County Circuit Court.
According to a report filed at the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were sent to the 3100 block of West Harmon Highway. A Peoria police officer had responded to call in that area about a 2-year-old boy who had been seen in the middle of the road. He was walking in the rain without shoes, according to the report.
The child had walked about a quarter of a mile before he was found, based upon the addresses contained in the report and in online jail records.
Officers tried to find where the boy lived for about 30 minutes before allowing paramedics from Advanced Medical Transport take him to OSF Healthcare Saint Francis Medical Center for further evaluation.
Meanwhile, officers continued to search for the parents of the boy and eventually went to Zombro’s house. There, she told them she and another person had gone to a gas station and then come back to wrap birthday presents. The children had been upstairs asleep while they were downstairs wrapping gifts.
She said she didn’t realize the child was missing until after she was done with the gifts. Another person, whose name was redacted from the report, said the boy was not on a consistent schedule and would often stay up all hours of the night. The person said no one had asked to watch the children while Zombro was out, the report said.
The Department of Children and Family Services was notified because the deputy didn’t know when Zombro would be released, the report said. No other family members were at the home and the deputy wrote he didn’t feel safe allowing the child to stay at home after he just walked out of the house.
With Zombro being released the same day as her arrest, it wasn’t immediately clear where the child was staying.
