ALOUETTE DAY-MORENO-BALTIERRA - 17 monTHS - Los Angelos Ca/ Lexington KY

California 17-month-old girl reported missing in October is found with her grandmother in Kentucky

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 20:59 EST, 28 December 2012 | UPDATED: 05:44 EST, 29 December 2012

University of Kentucky police have found a toddler they say was reported missing in Los Angeles more than two months ago.

Campus police officers Jennifer Ockerman and Emily Smith saw a woman pushing a stroller on the Lexington campus on Thursday with a little girl who wasn't dressed properly for the cold weather.

Upon further investigation they learned that the 17-month-old child, Alouette Day-Moreno-Baltierra, had been reported missing in California on Oct. 15 and the suspect caring for the girl was the child's grandmother, Maria Baltierra-Dejesus of New York.



Found: 17-month-old Alouette Day-Moreno-Baltierra, reported missing in Los Angeles more than two months ago, was found with her grandmother on the University of Kentucky campus

'This is an example of where the responding officers followed a gut feeling that something just wasn't right with the situation,' UK Police Chief Joe Monroe said in a statement on Friday.

Los Angeles police said that in October, they child's mother, Dominique Baltierra, reported that her girl was missing but then a day later she returned to police, saying she wanted to cancel the missing children's report even though she could not produce the child and became evasive, Norma Eisenman, public information
officer for the LAPD, told ABC News.

At that time, the Department of Children and Family Services placed a warrant in its system for both the grandmother and child.

When police in Kentucky were made aware of the warrant, Baltierra, 62, was placed under arrest. At the time of her arrest, evidence of wire transfer receipts from family members related to the child's mother were found in her ossession.




Gut feeling: University of Kentucky police officers Emily Smith, left, and Jennifer Ockerman, right, thought the situation was suspect and approached the girl's grandmother



Apprehended: Police at the University of Kentucky campus found the little girl inadequately dressed for the cold weather and approached her care giver, her grandmother, who they later arrested

'Family members were financially supporting the alleged grandmother since the baby has been missing, since October, while she’s been on the run with the child,' said Chief Monroe. 'We've received word [that] on one occasion she’s tried to leave the country with the baby, possibly a second time.'

Police have charged the woman, Maria Baltierra-Dejesus, with endangering the welfare of a minor and custodial interference.

The woman is currently being treated at a health care facility at the University of Kentucky.

The girl is in the care of Child Protective Services while in Kentucky.

'I’ve never seen anything like this,' said Monroe.

Though police have not confirmed any connection, a woman named Maria Baltierra, then aged 57, was reported missing from Oxford, England in April 2008 with her then 15-year-old daughter, Dominque.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254462/California-17-month-old-girl-reported-missing-October-grandmother-Kentucky.html#ixzz2GS2kBS1X