Toddler found wandering in the cold

Waterbury (WTNH) - A Waterbury mother and her boyfriend are facing charges after a 21-month old girl was found wandering in the cold.

Kristin Patraw, 22, and her boyfriend, Rudolph McNeil, are charged with risk of injury to a child, after a neighbor on Knollwood Circle found Patraw's daughter wandering out in the bitter cold on New Year's Day wearing only her pajamas.

"No shoes, that day it was 27 degrees, the ground was covered with snow and ice, obviously very dangerous for a child to be unattended," said Lt. Chris Corbett of the Waterbury Police Department.

Patraw reportedly left her daughter with her grandmother on New Year's Eve. At some point the grandmother left the child with Patraw's boyfriend back at 74 Knollwood because she had to go to work.

"The child was supposed to be in the care of the woman's boyfriend, Rudolph McNeil," added Corbett .

When Waterbury officers arrived at the apartment they found the 21 year old man sleeping in an upstairs apartment with a bottle of vodka by his side. They also say living conditions inside were so poor, there were cats coming in and out of the apartment and animal feces all over the floor.

"The conditions in the apartment were deplorable. Officers could not find any food for the child. As I said, the mother's boyfriend was supposed to be watching the child was asleep on a mattress passed out. By his own admission, a night of drinking," said Lt. Corbett.

Then, when Patraw went to pick up her daughter at the grandmother's, she wasn't there.

"When she couldn't find her she was tired so she went to sleep and was obviously unconcerned about the location of her child," Lt. Corbett said.

Because police say Patraw made no attempts to find her child, combined with the conditions of the apartment she is also facing charges. The child was evaluated is expected to be okay and is in the custody of the Department of Children and Families.