Over the weekend, a mother allegedly left her infant daughter at a Jiffy Lube in Cobb County, Georgia, setting off a series of alarming events.
Jarayya Mayes, the assistant manager, was starting her shift on Saturday morning when a woman approached the service area with a stroller, as reported by WAGA-TV.
‘Where’s the baby? I need the baby. I gotta go, I gotta go. Some stuff just went down. I gotta go.’
Mayes noted that she had seen this woman walking past the business but had never interacted with her before.
Upon approaching, the woman began asking Mayes and her coworker, Elijah, if her baby looked cute. Mayes recalled their exchange, saying, “We were like, ‘Yeah, baby’s adorable.’ And she was. She was absolutely adorable.”
The woman then requested the Jiffy Lube employees to look after her daughter, mentioning she had something urgent to deal with. This was when she reportedly left the stroller behind and claimed to have paperwork in a bag, saying they could keep the baby if she didn’t come back.
“She kept insisting, ‘The paperwork is in the bag. You guys can just have her if I don’t make it back,'” Mayes recalled, leading her to be quite concerned.
Following the woman’s departure, Mayes promptly called 911 and checked on the infant, discovering she had a soaked diaper and rashes on her neck and body.
About 15 minutes later, while still on the phone with dispatch, the mother allegedly returned, demanding her child back while brandishing a knife.
Mayes noted that the woman was frantic, saying, “Where’s the baby? I need the baby. I gotta go, I gotta go. Some stuff just went down. I gotta go.”
Emergency dispatchers advised Mayes not to let the mother leave with the baby, and fortunately, police arrived shortly thereafter.
WAGA reported that officers arrested 35-year-old Laraven Davis on charges of child abandonment and reckless conduct. The infant was taken to the hospital for evaluation.
According to reports, Davis has since been granted a $4,000 bond related to the charges.
Mayes expressed deep concern for the infant, sharing, “As a mom, it broke me down, I did cry a lot. I was just a mom looking out for another kid. I just couldn’t let that baby go like that. That was heartbreaking.”
Authorities have not provided details on what might have caused the mother to act this way, nor on the infant’s future care following the necessary medical clearance.
