A teenage mother is behind bars after her 3-year-old daughter was found wandering the streets hungry and alone.
Brownsville police arrested 18-year-old Beatriz Picasso on child abandonment charges early Friday morning.
Investigators told Action 4 News that a 52-year-old man found the girl outside the Kwik Wash on West Elizabeth Street.
The barefoot child was alone and hungry, so the man gave girl a drink and some cookies.
The man followed the child to the Villa Maria Apartments off Villa Maria Drive where he asked a woman if the baby girl was hers.
The woman said no, so the man called police.
Brownsville police told Action 4 News that the child’s 18-year-old mother called police looking for her missing 3-year-old daughter.
Officers returned to the apartment complex and arrested the teenage mother.
Picasso remains behind bars and is expected to be arraigned on Saturday morning.
Investigators said Child Protective Services has been contacted about the case.
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