He found a toddler cold and alone in a park. She led officers to her ‘sleeping’ mom, police say

At first, Marcus King said he thought nothing of it.

King told Fox13 he was walking to play some pickup basketball with friends when he found a little girl playing in the snow alone at a nearby park in Ogden, Utah. It was around 6 p.m. Wednesday, and the man realized the toddler, wearing pink ‘My Little Pony’ pajamas, was poorly dressed for the impending cold night.

“She didn’t have any jacket, no shoes, no parental supervision,” he told Fox13, “and (I) just took action then and took her inside.”

So King took her to a community center, where he called police. That girl would lead officers to her mother, who the toddler told police “was at home laying down,” according to The Deseret News.

She took them to her house, which had its front door wide open.

Officers then said they discovered her mother was dead — and that she had been for around 15 to 20 hours when King discovered the young child alone in a snowy park, WTHI wrote.

Police did not specify to local outlets what caused the mother’s death but said it was likely a medical emergency.

The child, who suffered no injuries from being outside, was taken into the Division of Child and Family Services while police try to find her family, the Deseret News reported.

King told Fox13 he’s glad he found the toddler when he did.

“The way the little girl was explaining it was: Her mom wasn't paying attention, and her mom was on the floor sleeping,” he said. “This is not a good part of Ogden — there’s a lot of weirdos around here, and I’m really, really fortunate and happy that I got to her, and nobody else did.”

This story was originally published December 29, 2017 at 1:03 PM with the headline "He found a toddler cold and alone in a park. She led officers to her ‘sleeping’ mom, police say."