Agua Dulce Toddler Found, Dirty but Safe, in Flood Control Basin

An 18-month-old toddler who was the object of an all-night police search was found scratched and dirty, but unharmed, Sunday morning after motorists spotted the child from the freeway in a North Hollywood flood control basin.

Cassandra Bennett, clad only in a pink diaper, had been missing for nearly 18 hours by the time she was found in the brushy flood control basin near the junction of the Hollywood and Golden State freeways.

Police said they believe the child simply wandered away from a Sun Valley home in the 12900 block of Sheldon Street, where her mother, Darla Keating, of Agua Dulce, was visiting a friend Saturday afternoon. There was no indication of foul play, police said.

However, Los Angeles Police Department Lt. John McCrillis said authorities will investigate the Keating home to make sure living conditions there are appropriate for a young child.

Keating, 24, who has four children ranging in age from 4 months to 7 years, told authorities she had been at her friend’s home for about an hour when she realized that her daughter, who had been watching television in the front room, was missing.

More than 50 police officers and civilian volunteers, and five police dogs, searched for the girl all night Saturday. But she was not located until about 10 a.m. Sunday after two motorists notified police that they had seen a child in the basin about a mile from the spot where Cassandra was last seen.

After officials received the tips, a helicopter flew over the area, but it was an officer on foot who first spotted the girl lying face down in the dirt, hidden by some brush.

“I thought the worst, that she might have been dead, but I touched her arm and she just stood up,” said Officer John Spesak. “She was quiet. As I picked her up she started to cry, but then she stopped and just held on tight.”

Spesak said the child was alert and did not appear to have any injuries.

On the steps of the Pacifica Hospital of the Valley in Sun Valley, where the baby was taken for observation, Keating clutched her blond, blue-eyed child and expressed relief that her daughter was found unharmed.

“I always grabbed on to all hope,” said the sobbing Keating, who stayed up all night during the search. “I had to grab on to hope--that’s all I had.”

Cassandra’s father and Keating’s common-law husband, Bruce Bennett, died three months ago, at 35, of heart failure, family members said.

Since his death, Keating and three of her children have lived with Keating’s parents in their Agua Dulce motor home, said her mother, Patricia Keating. Her daughter’s oldest child, a 7-year-old boy, lives with his father, she said.

Lt. McCrillis said authorities will investigate conditions at the motor home to be sure it is a safe home for Cassandra and the other children.

Patricia Keating said she was surprised that her granddaughter, who has been walking since she was about 13 months old, would wander so far.

“Normally, she sticks pretty close to her mother or to me. She is not that inquisitive, and she is very shy around strangers,” she said.

Cassandra was to remain at Pacifica Hospital overnight for observation, police said.