After a 7-year-old little girl showed up at her neighbor’s home with a heartbreaking sign, a Pennsylvania mother of three was arrested, facing multiple felony charges. The most shocking part, however, was the gut-wrenching question the child posed in her handwritten message for anyone who cared enough to read it.
It was nearly 9 p.m. on a chilly Wednesday evening when a Pennsylvania couple received an unexpected guest at their home on Lantern Lane in Chambersburg. Little did they know when they went to the door, their surprise visitor would soon lead authorities to arrest their neighbor, 33-year-old mother-of-three Nicodia Samuels. But that’s exactly what happened after police were called, thanks to the heartbreaking sign the Franklin County couple saw.
When Aineel David and his wife Erika went to see who had arrived at their doorstep, they were shocked to see a child wearing a t-shirt and jeans but no shoes. Unfortunately, that was far from the most shocking part of the unexpected visit. It quickly became obvious that the child, who was carrying a backpack with school supplies inside, was seeking help. What’s more, the help she was seeking was clearly displayed on a heartbreaking sign in her little hands, which caused the Franklin County couple to call the police for assistance.
“Please adopt me my mother hits me I have no home,” read the child’s distressing sign, which also listed the little girl’s school and mentioned that her mother had broken her iPad. Making matters worse, after the couple opened the door, the little girl started crying, begging the Davids to let her stay, Erika told a local news station. Disturbed by the child’s plight, the Davids quickly called the police to report the unaccompanied child, who had shown up alone at their home and alleged that she was the victim of abuse.
Officers with the Chambersburg Police Department promptly arrived at the scene, and thanks to documents from the little girl’s backpack, they were able to identify the child, who eventually agreed to walk a responding officer back to her apartment, also located on Lantern Lane, Fox 56 reported. Once at the residence, police found the front door partly opened. They knocked and announced themselves, but there was no response. However, a CPD sergeant was able to make contact with the child’s mother, 33-year-old Nicodia Samuels.
When the CPD sergeant reached Samuels, she said she was with a neighbor and that she was on her way home, so police, who had entered the residence, waited at the apartment for the child’s mother to return home. However, before Samuels arrived, an officer began to hear crying from upstairs and went to investigate. In an upstairs bedroom, the officer discovered another child—a 2-year-old who was also all alone. Fifteen minutes later, Samuels finally returned home.
When confronted by the police, the mom said she had just moved into the apartment the week before and was still in the process of moving in. She also claimed that she had been just “up the road” at a neighbor’s house, where she was allegedly picking up some of her belongings. However, police later found out that this “neighbor” lived in Shippensburg—a completely different town, approximately a 30-minute drive north of Chambersburg—so Samuels had been gone for at least an hour, the Public Opinion reported.
Nicodia Samuels admitted to the officer that she had left her children at the apartment alone, but only because she was a single mother and the kids had been sleeping. When police asked if any other children were in the home, Samuels said another child was also sleeping upstairs—this one, just 1 year old. After authorities learned that the mother had left all three children—ages 1, 2, and 7—home alone while she traveled to another town, Nicodia Samuels was arrested, facing multiple felony charges, including three counts of child endangerment.
While being a single mother admittedly comes with its challenges, it is no defense for leaving your children unattended. Being single also doesn’t excuse abuse, which the child also alleged. Whatever was going on in this home, it was bad enough for this child to seek a new family to love her. Sadly, it sounds like there were people right up the road who may have been more than willing to lend this mom a hand, had she asked. Instead, she made a very bad decision that could have had devastating consequences. No matter the reason, children this young shouldn’t be left unattended, and any mother should know that.