Mom charged after boy found shivering in car

GREAT FALLS, Mont. – A Great Falls woman was charged with felony criminal endangerment after allegedly leaving her 2-year-old son in an abandoned car overnight as snow fell and temperatures dropped to 32 degrees.

Police found the toddler at about 11 a.m. Wednesday. The boy was shivering uncontrollably after enduring 14 hours in the cold, according to documents released Thursday during the initial court appearance of the mother, Jessi Lynn Parrish, 25.

Judge Julie Macek set bail for Parrish at $50,000.

Parrish told police she had been drinking whiskey Tuesday evening when she arrived at the home of the child’s baby sitter. Parrish was reported to be intoxicated and was asked to leave, court records said.

She left with the boy after 8:30 p.m. and walked to her residence. She didn’t have a house key so she walked to another house where she spent Tuesday night, she told officers. When she awoke Wednesday morning, she realized her son was missing and retraced her steps. She called officers at 10:41 a.m. to report the child missing.

Police said it appears the child was placed inside the unlocked vehicle no later than 9 p.m. Tuesday. The next morning Sgt. Scott Van Every brushed snow off the vehicle at 10:55 a.m. and opened the door. The toddler, shaking uncontrollably and cold to the touch, reached out to the officer, police said.

The boy was wearing only a sweat shirt and sweat pants but no shoes or socks. There was no evidence of food, water, blankets or other clothing for the child inside the vehicle, a police report said.

Police said the boy was treated for exposure at a Great Falls hospital. The boy was taken into protective custody, said Cascade County Attorney Brant Light.