Sana Patel, 3, is resting comfortably at her home on the city's Northwest Side after she was discovered in an alley behind the 4400-block of West Wellington Monday night around 9:30. The toddler walked out of a CVS store on North Milwaukee near Pulaski while her parents were shopping. Her disappearance sparked an intensive search.
Chicago police say Jeanette Roldan was arrested Monday, just after Sana was found safe less than a mile away from the CVS Pharmacy where she was last seen. Police say Roldan lives in the same Northwest Side neighborhood as the store. No one returned a message left at a telephone listing for Jeanette Roldan in Chicago on Tuesday. Roldan is scheduled to appear in bond court Wednesday morning.Store surveillance video shows an unidentified woman walking out with the child.
Several hours after she went missing, someone called police to alert them to a little girl alone in an alley about a mile from where the toddler was reported missing.
Relatives say she appears to be unaffected by the experience.
"She very happy. She just laughing," said Yusuf Patel, girl's uncle. "She told me last night, she says she go her house and she give you some candy, and I think maybe change her clothes, too."
"They're happy that the daughter is home tonight, and they'll leave what's being done in the hands of the Chicago Police Department. We can't think the Chicago Police Department and the media enough for all their efforts in bringing her home," said Taariq Goder, family spokesperson. "She's in high spirits, bouncing off the walls like any other day, enjoying herself and playing with her toys and friends."
"I don't think it's any coincidence that after it was given out on the news that the child was found immediately after that. The investigation will continue to try to identify that individual and to try to find out what happened from the time the child left the CVS with that individual until the time the child was finally found in the alley," said Cmdr. Michael Mealer, Chicago Police.
The little girl was inside the store with relatives when she disappeared. And after an undetermined amount of time, security cameras captured a woman talking to Sana and leaving the store with the toddler.
The family says they have no idea how the 3-year-old wound up in that alley. She was initially taken to Children's Memorial Hospital in good condition and released to her family.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
