Police: Mother abandoned 4-year-old at airport

ATLANTA — Authorities are asking for the public’s help in locating the mother of a 4-year-old child who was abandoned at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Police say they’re looking for Maranda Hakimi Harvey, 30. Police say she left her child at the airport around 2 a.m. Friday.

“She met a couple and asked them to watch her 4-year-old while she did some shopping. She never returned,” Atlanta police Sgt. Warren Pickard said.

Police said the girl told them where she went to school, and from there they were able to identify her mother and find out she is from Odenton, Maryland.

“We’re at the point where we cannot find Ms. Harvey. We do know that Ms. Harvey drove her personal car to the airport, rented another car sometime this morning and left the airport,” Pickard said.

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Police do not know why Harvey chose to drive to Atlanta, a 10-hour, 680-mile drive from her home.

Harvey ditched her car and rented a white Nissan Versa. Her car has not been recovered.

She also allegedly deleted her social media account not long after police found her picture online.

“We need to find out what happened, why this child has been left in the airport for all these hours unattended,” Pickard said.

The child was not physically harmed.

Police are working to find Harvey.

“Who would leave a 4-year-old child with strangers, someone you don’t know, even if you were going to shop?” Pickard said.

Cox Media Group