Police: Mother left child outside in cold for 3 hours

Grandmother says 5-year-old slept on porch

A 38-year-old Destrehan mother was charged with cruelty to a juvenile after authorities say her 5-year-old daughter was locked out of the house for more than three hours.

Darnell L. Williams, of 2002 Ormond Blvd., was asleep on Jan. 11 when her daughter got off the school bus. The child tried to enter the house, but it was locked and her mother did not respond to her knocks, according to authorities.
Though temperatures were in the 40s that day, the girl slept outside on the porch until her grandmother arrived more than three hours later, according to the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office.

After finding her granddaughter outside, the grandmother called the police.