Family of young girl wandering alone in Salem located

05:21 PM PDT on Thursday, March 19, 2009

By TERESA BLACKMAN and DAVID KROUGH, kgw.com Staff

SALEM -- Salem Police said that the family of a young girl found wandering a Salem neighborhood Wednesday night thought the girl had been in bed all along.


Family of wandering girl found Police said the girl was 4-years old and was found near the intersection of Roselawn Drive NE and Burlington Street NE, around 6:45 p.m.

The girl, who told police her name was Esther, was wearing a denim jacket, multi-colored striped dress and silver shoes. She was carrying a daffodil and a sprig of an evergreen shrub wrapped in a paper towel, along with a small red cup of rocks.

Police said Esther was not wearing any type of jewelry or identification and did not appear to speak with any noticeable accent. Officers walked her around the neighborhood, hoping that she would recognize her home or anybody she may know, to no avail.

"I saw this little girl walking in the street, turning right, and I wondered whats going on, is she with anybody?" neighbor Greg Johnston said. "You just kind of look around to see if there are any adults within a 100 yards or anything and shes just walking in the street?"

Esther was turned over to the Department of Human Services. DHS arranged for the family to attend a shelter hearing at the Marion County Juvenile Department on Thursday afternoon, where a judge ruled she would remain in state custody pending a decision.


While detectives were contacting neighbors Thursday morning about the case, dispatchers got a call about a missing child from Esther’s family



Detectives said the mother, 41-year-old Vera Lavukina, said they had several children and it was common for the older kids to help take care of the young ones, so they had assumed Esther was safe in bed when she disappeared.



Lavukina said she realized Esther was missing Thursday morning while waking the other children at home, then called 9-1-1.

The family said she was commonly known to put herslef to bed when she gets tired. Another sibling didn't notice that she was gone from their room at the time

No criminal charges had been filed.

i'm glad the girl is safe

SAD story but happens more than the news catches

true...happens more than we know. i do wonder why the mother didn't know her child went to bed or not. i couldn't see letting my little just put herself to bed like that

The same thing has happened in my area 3+ times in the last couple of months.

A 3 year old was found walking down the middle of the highway not to long ago. The police found the kids Mother laying in a ditch dead from a hit and run. The little girl had walked about a mile.