Sep 18, 2007 6:52 pm US/Central
Indiana Girl Left Behind At Zoo On Church Trip
11-Year-Old Wandered City Alone For 6 Hours Before Finding Help
by Mike Puccinelli
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (CBS) ―
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Taylor Neal, 11, was left to fend for herself in Chicago for six hours after she was left behind by her church group.
CBS
A young girl from Indiana found herself alone in Chicago after she was left behind following a church outing.
Her mother says the 11-year-old was with her church group at the Lincoln Park Zoo, but she says her daughter was left to wander around Chicago by herself.
CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli spoke to the mother and daughter Tuesday in an exclusive interview.
Fairhaven Baptist Church in Chesterton, Ind., routinely takes its young members on field trips. Trouble is, Taylor Neal found herself left behind after one of those trips. The church would not comment Tuesday about the incident.
"I wasn't scared at all," Taylor said.
She may not have been frightened, but her mother, Sophia Neal, certainly was. When a church bus pulled up at her Michigan City, Ind., home Sunday afternoon, only two of her three daughters got off the bus. Taylor had been forgotten at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, more than 60 miles away.
Initially, Fairhaven Baptist Church officials said Taylor was probably on another bus, but 10 minutes later Sophia Neal learned that was not the case.
"I was panicking and I was getting mad at the same time, because I put my daughters into their hands," she said.
Her degree of panic only escalated as darkness fell and she realized her daughter was fending for herself in Chicago.
"I was just out of my mind," Sophia Neal said. "I was upset to the point I just started screaming."
Taylor said her frustration boiled over when she realized she had been left behind.
"I was upset," Taylor said. "I stomped a little."
Then she took matters into her own hands and walked three miles from the zoo to Michigan Avenue and Monoroe Street, where at 10:45 p.m., more than six hours after her ordeal began, a hotel employee called police, who notified Taylor's mother.
Sophia Neal immediately drove to a Chicago hospital to see her daughter.
"Before I even got to her I was already in tears," she said.
Neal said she is just glad they were tears of joy and not despair.
Taylor was not injured, but she did skip school Monday because, she said, her legs were very tired.
Sophia Neal said she is going to remove her three children from the church and is still waiting for an apology.
(CBS 2 and the Post-Tribune are news partners covering stories in the communities of northwest Indiana. If you know of stories happening in this region, contact us.
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