Police investigators in South Florida are still searching for the Atlanta mother of a toddler found wandering alone earlier this week. The woman’s sister has now made a public plea to implore the mom to reach out if she’s safe.
Gina Lewis, one of the three sisters searching for 21-year-old Leila Cavett, spoke at a news conference Tuesday. Lewis and two of her sisters drove from Alabama to South Florida to connect with their 2-year-old nephew who was found wandering in an apartment complex parking lot Sunday.
“We just want to know that my sister is OK,” Lewis told reporters Tuesday. “We’re really not sure what’s going on.”
Cavett lives in Atlanta, while the rest of the family lives in Jasper, Alabama, which is northwest of Birmingham and some 800 miles from Miramar.
The family said Cavett didn't have any known ties to South Florida. They're desperate for answers.
“If you are OK, please let someone know,” Lewis said. “She would have never just left him like that.”
The sisters met with detectives at the Miramar Police Department in hopes of learning why little Kamdyn Cavett was alone and what happened to Cavett.
Cavett, according to her Facebook page, lives in Atlanta. Police said she was last seen driving a mid-to-late 1990s white Chevy 3500, with a red tailgate and a “Baby on Board” sign on the passenger window.
Cavett’s family told reporters they last spoke to her about two weeks ago.
“I FaceTimed her on July 17. We were on the phone for about an hour ,and she was fine,” one of the sisters said. “She didn’t have any plans to come to Florida, so we’re very confused right now.”
How toddler was found
Ebony Williams told reporters Monday during a news conference that she saw the boy in the parking lot and assumed the child’s mother was nearby. She said she got out of her truck and heard him crying.
“I asked him, ‘Where’s your mommy?’ and he just kind of pointed kind of everywhere,” Williams said, according to WKMG-TV. “I reached out my hand for him, and he grabbed a couple of my fingers, and we just started walking around the complex hoping that I would find somebody looking for him or calling his name.”
Williams canvassed the neighborhood to see if she could find anyone who knew the boy’s mom, but she wasn’t successful.
She called police, who took the child to the station and posted his picture on social media, searching for his parents. The photos went viral, which is how Lewis saw them.
Lewis told the news station the family has no connections to South Florida.
“We’re in the middle of a pandemic,” Lewis said. “So it’s not like they were taking a vacation out of the blue with the baby. There’s no way.”
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