Alexandria Woman Arrested for Child Desertion

News Release – On May 28, a few minutes after 4:30 am, APD officers responded to a motel on MacArthur Drive to a report of two children left alone in a room. When officers arrived, they contacted motel staff, who said that the two children, who were 6 and 7, had been found by cleaning staff. The man and woman who rented the room had checked out of the motel at around 2:30 am, and took their belongings with them. It was not until staff came to clean the room that the children were discovered.

Officers found no bags or clothing in the room, nor was there any food. When officers prepared to transport the children to the police station, they asked if the children had shoes, and one of the children said they were gone. The children were apparently not harmed, and the Department of Children and Family Services was contacted to conduct their investigation.

At around 7:00 am the same day, APD was contacted and informed that the mother of the children had returned to the motel. Officers arrived and placed the mother, identified as Darnisha Tannehill, 27, of Alexandria, under arrest for two counts of Child Desertion. She was booked into the Rapides Parish Detention Center.

No booking photo was available at the time of this release.