Mother, Boyfriend Held After Boy Found Wandering on Freeway
A 7-year-old boy was found wandering barefoot on interstate freeway lanes Wednesday after his mother and her boyfriend abandoned the child at a remote site as a discipline lesson, authorities said.
The child was forced out of a car into darkness after midnight in rural Yolo County, sheriff’s investigators said. The boy was also forced to leave his shoes and jacket in the vehicle.
Police later broke into a Sacramento house and rescued a 5-year-old sibling who had also been left alone.
The mother and boyfriend were arrested and charged with two counts each of felony child endangerment, sheriff’s detectives said. The woman was identified as 27-year-old Navy reservist Frances Elaine Onidas and her boyfriend as 41-year-old Sacramento janitor Lowell Russell Thornton.
Thornton was also charged with one count of possessing a concealed and loaded firearm.
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