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Officials investigate why child wandered Toddler's stroll was news to mom The Associated Press GRANTS PASS -- A 2-year-old girl who was found wandering half-naked down the street in near-freezing weather remains in foster care as authorities investigate the toddler's mother for possible child neglect. Josephine County sheriff's Sgt. Ken Selig said the mother, Melissa Lathrop, contacted authorities Saturday after she read about the incident in the Grants Pass Daily Courier newspaper. Until then, nobody even knew the girl's name. Sheriff detectives and officials from the State Office for Services to Children and Families are investigating why the child's stroll was news to 29-year-old Lathrop. "We're looking into issues regarding child neglect," Selig said. "We're interested in some aspects of potential criminality." The child, shivering and crying, was spotted by two bicyclists at dusk on Friday. She was walking down the middle of a street wearing only a shirt. Several motorists soon stopped. Somebody contacted a nearby resident, Joyce Anno, who fed the girl and rubbed her feet to restore circulation until deputies arrived. "She was just petrified," said Anno, who has two grandchildren of her own. "She was so cold. Her feet were like icicles." Selig said Lathrop left the girl overnight with an "entrusted person" identified as Henry Hamilton Jr. The girl apparently got outside and wandered off after she unlatched a deadbolt in Hamilton's residence. While authorities said it is not unusual for children to wander off, they say Hamilton never reported it. Selig said authorities are also interested in knowing why Lathrop left the girl with Hamilton in the first place and why the girl was not fully dressed. A physical examination of the girl found her to be in good health, but officials at Services to Children and Families have not yet decided whether to return the girl to her mother. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA