WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A Louisiana woman has been arrested after, authorities said, she abandoned three children at three different locations in and near West Palm Beach. Her family said mental illness is to blame for her actions.
According to the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, they received a 911 call stating that a woman had abandoned an 8-year-old child at a Shell gas station near Okeechobee Boulevard and Drexel Road in unincorporated West Palm Beach, at around 5 a.m., Monday.
About four hours later at 9 a.m., investigators said, West Palm Beach Police received a call stating that a woman had abandoned a 3-year-old child at a Publix along Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard.
Then, at around 9:15 a.m., West Palm Beach Police learned that the woman’s vehicle, a 2018 white Chevy Equinox, was located off Sunrise Avenue and North Ocean Boulevard.
Responding officers arrived to find the woman, later identified as 36-year-old Miesha Perkins, walking away from her SUV. Inside the closed and locked vehicle, investigators said, was a 1-year-old child.
From her balcony, area resident Jill Slack watched officers pull the toddler from the car.
“First, I didn’t know what they were looking for in the car,” she said. “I didn’t know whether someone had passed out in the back seat. Was it an animal? Then, when I saw it was a baby, oh, my gosh, I just lost it. So sad. As soon as I heard it crying, I was like, ‘Thank God.'”
Perkins was detained and questioned by police. She was later arrested and charged with three counts of child neglect.
“How could she do that? How can anyone treat children that way?” said Slack.
Speaking on the phone with 7News, Perkins’ mother said her daughter suffers from bipolar disorder.
“This is something that she would have never done if she was on her medication. No, this is not normal,” she said.
Detectives learned Perkins and the children’s father were driving down to West Palm Beach from Louisiana. At some point, authorities said, Perkins argued with the children’s father and left him at an unknown location.
Investigators said she began abandoning the children one by one after she arrived in Palm Beach County.
According to the suspect’s mother, Perkins was a friend of the children’s father and was helping him move the family down to West Palm Beach after the children’s mother died a few months ago.
Pamela said she hopes her daughter is given the medical care she needs.
“If she did something like that, she’s in a manic state, and she needs to be in the hospital, and that’s what I want them to do: send her to the hospital,” she said.
Perkins is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail.
She refused to appear in court on Tuesday morning and is being held on a $30,000 bond. The 36-year-old has been ordered not to have any contact with the victims or any children upon release.
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