Boy, 2, Discovered Alive in Desert Next to Body of Mother

A 2-year-old boy, shivering with fear and cold after 36 hours without food or water, was found next to the body of his mother Monday in an old car parked in the desert in Palmdale, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said.

The child had been alone with the dead woman for at least 36 hours. Investigators said she may have died of a drug overdose.

The child was in stable condition late Monday at Antelope Valley Medical Center, where he was under treatment for dehydration and exposure.

The woman was identified as Sandra Zimmerman, 29, of Palmdale, and the boy as her son, Joey.

A Sheriff’s Department source said narcotics paraphernalia found in the car indicated that the woman may have pulled off the road to inject herself with drugs, the source said.

The car was first seen parked in an open field near Avenue P-8 and 20th Street about midday Saturday, but no one realized that anyone was in the vehicle until an area resident spotted the woman slumped over the wheel about 9:30 a.m. Monday.

The boy was wearing pants but had no jacket, shoes or socks, the sheriff’s source said. His cheeks, hands and arms were swollen and beginning to turn blue, but he did not suffer severe frostbite, although temperatures had dropped to near freezing in the area, the sheriff’s source said.