PALMDALE – An 18-month-old girl kidnapped from a Motel 6 in Palmdale Saturday was found hours later suffering from exposure in a shed in another part of the city, and a man suspected of assaulting the child’s mother was taken into custody not far from where the girl was located, authorities said.
Deputies from the sheriff’s Lancaster Station were dispatched about 6:30 a.m. to the Lake Los Angeles area east of Palmdale to the location of a reported sexual assault victim, Deputy Ryan Rouzan of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau said.
“Preliminary information at the scene led Lancaster sheriff’s deputies to initiate an Amber Alert, identifying a named male … as a person of interest in this case,” Rouzan said.
Detectives from the Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau, who were assisted by Sheriff’s Special Victims Bureau investigators, determined the man and vehicle named in the alert were not involved in the incident, Rouzan said.
“The investigation led detectives to identify a male adult as a person of interest in the girl’s abduction, as well as the vehicle he was last known to be driving (a blue Ford Contour),” Rouzan said.
Armed with that information, deputies from the sheriff’s Palmdale Station located the vehicle and its occupants — a male juvenile and 33-year-old Brandon Wynn — about 2:50 p.m. near the intersection of East Avenue T-8 and 40th Street East, Rouzan said.
Pursuing leads, Lancaster Station deputies searched for the baby a few blocks away in the area of East Avenue T-8 and 43rd Street East and found her in a shed where she was alone and had been left unattended for an undetermined length of time, Rouzan said.
Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedics were called to the scene and took the baby to a hospital for evaluation and treatment, Rouzan said.
The child showed symptoms of exposure but appeared to be otherwise unharmed, he said.
Wynn and the juvenile male were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and were booked at the sheriff’s Lancaster Station, Rouzan said.
“The investigation is ongoing and additional charges are anticipated,” he said.
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Editor’s note: Brandon Wynn is 33 years old and the child is 18 months old, according to a criminal complaint filed July 21. The story has been updated to reflect this information.
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Mary says
What happened to this little Penelope was inhumane and cruel. Humans treat their animals better than how this young child was treated. To say that the mother has mental issues is an understatement. She needs life time commitment into a mental hospital to address these issues. This mother is lucky that Penelope was not raped for change to help feed her addiction. These two convicts who brutally raped the mother and left her for dead, probably would have began selling Penelope for drugs as well. No child on earth deserves this mistreatment. Penelope is a beautiful young girl, born into this world, deserving only the best life. She did not ask to be born to have to watch her mother be beat and raped (Which I am sure she had to see on a daily basis) nor did she ask to be born to be thrown into a shed to die in such EXTREME heat conditions. My heart hurts for the mother a little bit but sadly, I hurt more for her daughter. It doesn’t matter if Penelope is 19 months or 19 years, no child deserves to be thrown away in a DARK shed to die over sex and or drugs! Women: if you are reading this and you are struggling financially, as I am, to make it in this world, never resort to selling your butt for any amount of money. You are worth more than that. My mom always told me, “Mary, do whatever it takes to make a buck but never sell your “beep” for it”. My mom worked three jobs to support us when we were growing up, there is no excuse to allow any “Pimp” to take your life and soul from you, and in some cases as we saw in this article, maybe even your child/ren’s life and soul. Come on women, you have got to be smarter than this. It is your job, if you have children, to support them the BEST way you can, but never in your life time, jeopardize the life of your child/ren. THEY deserve better than this. I hope this precious little girl has at least ONE decent family member who can take her in and raise her and if not, I hope that she goes to an incredible adoptive family where she can grow up to have a very decent life. As far as good dreams, I doubt those dreams are anywhere in the near future. I can only imagine what this little girl has seen. I think this is the most tragic story that I have read thus far in the Antelope Valley times. It is absolutely nauseous! I hope that the “Pimp” gets life for his actions against that child. Thank you to the incredible work of witness’ and the police who helped find this child – I am so proud of all of you! I know you hear so much negativity about yourselves in the media but truthfully, you guys do an incredible job and every single day your life is on the line with almost no appreciation at all. So THANK YOU – thank you for saving this little precious girl from something that could have been so tragic OVER DRUGS and SEX!
Tammy says
I totally agree with you Mary… I know Penelope’s older sister… I wrote that statement in hopes that her father would read it and tell her that people care for her and her little sister.. I have dealt with “mom” way too many times to care how she feels…I only care about those babies!! Period!! and I am not supporting her at all or making an excuse for her, not in any way…I stated mental illness hoping to get confirmation that it was the family I know..(confirmation came when the paper released her correct age..)These girls have been to hell and back already at their young age. I don’t want to make it any harder on them talking bad about their mom..
Mary says
As adults, if we don’t protect these kids, who will? I m sad for any mental illness this mother had, and I am sad that she feared this pump, but sadly, she does not deserve to have custody of this child until she can prove that she has completely turned her life around. As an adult, and as a mother, she is obligated to care for her children, not a grown man who plays the roll of a pump for his own financial gain. My only concern is for the child and only the child. We saw what happened to Gabriel – I don’t care what the adults do – they can beat each other up, smoke dope, have sex with 80 men for pocket change, they can claim fear, they can claim mental illness but in the end, I only care about the innocent child who NEVER asked to be brought into such nonsense and nonsense is what it is. That so called pimp is just a man using women for financial gain and he beats them to a pulp to control them. Listen women: FIRST time a man outs his hands on you LEAVE him – if you do not, you are 100 percent guilty of allowing such abuse.
Djea says
Thank you again antelope valley for all the lovely sec8 housing. Things keep getting worse and worse.
Say What says
Guess the pimp didn’t like his money maker having her kid around, scares off the customers.
Lori says
The mom was kidnapped and the baby left behind, then they went back for the baby at the motel.
tm says
Well lets see in the lovely A.V mostly full of idiots and drug addicts..and come on we are known for the high rate of child abuse.the mom probably was hooking for drugs and didn’t go as expected so they got their way with her anyway and took the child cuz they are probably high and have nothing better to do ..plans were to probably hold the child for ransom until they got what they wanted….hmmmmm..interesting..what else goes on at motel 6?
Shut up! says
Quite trying to spoon feed your AV garbage, every city every state has its garbage. Want to fix this town take actions and help the town or get out.
Tammy says
For one, little Penelope Is almost 19 months old. She will be turning 2 in December…For two, Her mother is Mentally Ill with lots and lots of problems…She gave the wrong info to the Sheriffs. They need to act quickly for a missing child! So they went on what the mother said…. She (mom) has a husband, another daughter that is around 8 and a teenage son!! They all love that little baby! BUT ….I hope that they are all removed from the home once and for all to a safe home where they can have beautiful dreams and know that their dreams can come true!!…For Penelope’s older sister….. Hang in there kiddo, (my little chittlin) things will get better for you! Just be there for Penelope, she will always need and look up to her big sis!!
avtimesreader says
I’m just hear to read the negative things Tim Scott is going to say about LASD this time.
Tony says
Who cares of “why” and “what” (obviously you) the most important thing here to me is that the baby is alright!
Let the detectives do their job and we should see what the outcome will be.
Jane says
“Why” the baby was left at a motel 6 alone is not important? Really?
Again, when you keep bad company, expect bad things to happen. It’s common sense.
Jane says
There seems like soooooooo much more to this story. Why was the baby left alone at motel 6? Why was the baby kidnapped, only to be hidden and left alone in a shed? What kind of company did mom keep?
Of course we’ll never get the full story though.
The team says
Unfortunately we’re getting the laSd version which means that there’s more to the story. The police may have kidnapped the baby to pin the crime on someone. The police or here are not lapd they ate laSd and they are lawless. There is actually almost zero crime but the police are creating crimes and killing people right and left.
SOLO says
Take the tinfoil hat off of your head. I think it is too tight.
Or maybe says
The story is/was still unfolding at this time, even they didn’t have all the details to hand out. Who ever wrote this column only had some of the info at the time. The LASD is not going to give out more details than it needs or that can cause problems for the case.
gg says
Story doesn’t say she was alone at the Motel 6. It says she was kidnapped from the Motel 6, after the suspect assaulted the baby’s mother. She was then, left alone in a shed for an undetermined period of time.