SALT LAKE CITY, UT (KTVX/CNN) - Marcus King was on his way to play basketball when he heard a little voice coming from a playground.
“I saw her over there just dragging her poor feet in the snow,” King said. “I asked her where her parents were and she shrugged and said, ‘I don’t know.’”
It turned out the girl lived right across the street. Police say the front door of her apartment was wide open. Four-year-old Emily crossed 28th Street on her own, then came to a park, where King found her walking barefoot in the snow.
“The little girl, when I walked by, she raised her arms to me and said, ‘I want you,’ so I said, ‘Come here, sweetheart,’ picked her up and took her inside,” King said.
He brought her into the community center next door and called the police.
“She said her mom was laying on the floor, she wasn’t paying attention and she was sleeping,” King said.
Police determined Emily’s mom had been dead in their apartment for nearly 24 hours before the girl was found. She is with her grandmother now. They are planning on meeting King soon to thank him in person.
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