Tot on her own while mother was in jai

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A 2-year-old girl survived on ketchup, mustard and dried pasta for nearly three weeks after she was left home alone while her mother served time in jail.

The child was recovering from malnutrition Tuesday and was listed in good condition at Wolfson Children’s Hospital.

"She’s sitting up in the bed and laughing and playing with the nurses," hospital spokesman David Foreman said.

The child’s father, Ogden Lee, who is separated from the child’s 22-year-old mother, Dakeysha Telita Lee, said he had been trying to contact the mother for two weeks and did not learn until Sunday that she was in jail.

When a manager let him into the apartment on Monday, the girl was lying in a baby’s bathtub covered with a towel and was watching cartoons. She was filthy and covered with dried ketchup, he said.

"She grabbed me and wouldn’t let go of me," Lee said. "It is really a miracle how good a shape my daughter is in. I don’t know how she did it."

Lee, 33, said the girl had dragged the food, toys and other things into her mother’s bedroom, where he found her.

The child opened the refrigerator and got into a pantry, eating anything she could find, including dry spaghetti and macaroni, Sheriff John Rutherford said.

"She managed to stay alive for 19 days," he said. "She’s quite a scrapper."

Leaford James, who lives across a breezeway from Dakeysha Lee’s apartment, said he heard crying from the apartment, "but nothing to get suspicious about."

The little girl had been left alone since her mother was jailed Sept. 10 for aggravated assault and petty theft. The mother was charged Monday with child abuse and was being held Tuesday on $20,000 bond.