GREELEY, Colo. — A 30-year-old woman was arrested Monday evening after police say she was found with a missing 3-year-old Greeley girl.
Mariah Martinez faces charges of second-degree kidnapping and child abuse, according to a release from Greeley police. She was taken into custody without incident and is being held at the Weld County Jail, police said.
There is currently "no indication that Martinez and the child had any connection," a Greeley PD spokesperson told Denver7 in an email.
Police responded around 6:20 p.m. after the child's mother had reported the girl missing, saying she was last seen at the playground around the corner from their Bears Village apartment on 18th Street around 4:30 p.m. Monday, according to the release.
However, Greeley police later said they are still investigating whether the child's last known location was a playground or the apartment complex.
The missing child prompted a Reverse 911 alert in a five-mile radius, and police also used a drone, a K9, and other resources to try to find her, according to the release.
Around 7:15 p.m., neighbors reported seeing the girl walking with an adult woman in an alley near Cranford Place, police said. A K9 then positively identified the 3-year-old's scent in the alley.
"Multiple additional sightings were reported and officers blanketed the neighborhood," the release said.
The 3-year-old and the woman were found in the 1400 block of 15th Street — a little over a mile from the Bears Village apartments — around 7:45 p.m., police said.
Arrest affidavit reveals details on the suspect's movements
An arrest affidavit in the case obtained by Denver7 shows Martinez had asked a homeowner if she and the child could come inside the home. When the resident asked if they needed help, Martinez reportedly said they were "running from someone."
That homeowner then offered to call police, but Martinez said that doing so would "only make matters worse" before walking away, according to the document.
The suspect then walked to another home where they were allowed inside and offered food and water, and requested that the homeowners let her rest while someone watched over the child, the filing says.
That homeowner told police they believed the child was the suspect's and thought they may have been fleeing from a domestic violence situation, according to the arrest affidavit.
When the homeowner offered to find shelter for Martinez and the child, the suspect refused.
Once arrested, Martinez told police they were "running from her uncles," the affidavit states, before asking a detective if he "believed in magic."
Detectives noted in the affidavit that she was "was visibly in a state of withdrawal from narcotics." Martinez told detectives she "had not used fentanyl in four days," according to the filing.
"Defendant was confronted with the unsafe situation she placed the Victim in by taking her away from her family while going through fentanyl withdrawals Defendant stated she knows it was unhealthy to be doing what she was doing with the Victim," the affidavit states.
Martinez told detectives she did not harm the girl in any way, according to the filing.
The girl was "reunited with her family" after being taken to a local hospital for "a precautionary evaluation," police said.
Records show Martinez has a prior criminal history, including pleading guilty to theft and drug charges.
Police are asking anyone with information or surveillance footage to contact Detective Collin Losasso at Collin.Losasso@greeleypd.com or Detective Brett Stone at Brett.Stone@greeleypd.com.
Denver7's Oscar Contreras contributed to this report.
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