Girl, 2, Survives Days Alone After Father’s Death

They found the little girl late Sunday night, clinging to a blanket beside a bed in a Buena Park apartment, dehydrated and weak after two, perhaps three, days alone with a lighted Christmas tree, police said.

In the bathroom they found her father’s body. Nearby lay a hypodermic syringe and an empty vial, according to Buena Park Police Sgt. Terry Branum.

The child, 2, was reported to be recovering Monday at Childrens Hospital of Orange County in Orange. Authorities aren’t sure whether the girl is old enough to know or realize that she is now an orphan. Her mother, Sandra Neary, 32, was kidnaped and killed in October.

Branum said police aren’t sure whether the injection that apparently killed the girl’s father, Stephen Neary, 28, was an accident or suicide.

Authorities in Costa Mesa and Riverside County said the slaying of the girl’s mother still was unsolved Monday. Sandra Neary was kidnaped in Costa Mesa on Oct. 11 and her body was found in Riverside County on Oct. 24.

The child, whose first name was not disclosed, almost died herself because of the ordeal of being without care and food after her father died, police said Monday. She was found in an apartment in the 8200 block of 8th Street at 10:40 p.m. Sunday, Branum said.

“The little girl was found by her uncle, Patrick Neary of Del Mar,” said Branum. “He and a friend went to the apartment to check on why he hadn’t heard from his brother. They saw lights inside; the Christmas tree lights were on. They broke a side window and went in and found the little girl by the bed. They couldn’t get into the bathroom because of the position of the body, and they called police.”

No Cries or Sounds Heard

After police arrived, they forced open the bathroom door and found the body. Police said the exact cause and approximate time of death won’t be known until an autopsy is completed.

Branum said it was amazing that the child had survived the ordeal.

“She’d been there all that time in the apartment,” Branum said, adding that neighbors had not heard any cries or other sounds.

“She has relatives--her uncle and grandparents--so she will probably go to them after she’s released from the hospital,” said Branum.

In the meantime, police said, they will try to sort out the death of her father and the even more puzzling death of her mother.

Sandra Neary, according to police, was last seen in Costa Mesa at 6 p.m. Oct. 11, when she went out to buy groceries. She never returned, and on Oct. 13 her husband reported to Costa Mesa police that she was missing.

Because Sandra Neary’s disappearance was within a month of the Nov. 12 abduction and slaying of Lynel Murray, 19, of Huntington Beach, Southern California police agencies for a time looked into a possible connection. But Costa Mesa Police Capt. Robert Moody said on Nov. 18 that there appeared to be no link.

James Gregory Marlow and Cynthia Lynn Coffman were arrested Nov. 14 and have been charged with the murder of Murray and the abduction and murder of Corrina D. Novis, 20, of Redlands.