Parents Learn Daughter Was Left In Chuck E. Cheese By Watching News

Parents learned their 3-year-old daughter was missing when they saw a news broadcast reporting she'd been found in a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant.

Employees of the Bel Air, Md. pizzeria discovered the girl, Harmony, was by herself when she told a worker that she was thirsty at 8 p.m on Sunday. The manager called police after searching the premises for a parent or guardian. Harford County Sheriff's deputies waited with Harmony in the restaurant until 9:30 p.m., but no one showed up to get her, according to a press release from the department.

Harmony arrived at the restaurant with a large group of four adults and 10 children. The pizza party broke up around 8 p.m., but apparently none of the relatives noticed that Harmony slipped back inside after she found a token.

After keeping vigil in the restaurant for 90 minutes, the deputies took Harmony to a precinct house. They shared pictures of the girl with local television stations in the hopes of tracking down her parents.

The girl's mother and father split custody of her and assumed that she was with other family members until they saw an 11 p.m. newscast reporting that she'd been left behind hours before at the restaurant.

Immediately after the segment aired, sheriff's department officials said both parents called police and Child Protective Services released Harmony to her mother.

Because Harmony was inadvertently abandoned, police officials said they won't file charges.

Comments

[Rachel Ariel]

06:50 PM on 04/25/2013

It happens. My mother has 7 children including myself, and as the oldest I was the designated counter. Even with precautions we left children every once in a while.

[bluecar]

06:16 PM on 01/30/2013

When I was three years old we had a minor chimney fire, due to a fire dept. strike the Army Fire Dept. came and put it out and my brother and I had great fun watching the excitement safely from a neighbors house. It wasn't until my Mother came to fetch us and the neighbor asked about my sister that my mother remembered she had a three day old infant at home...It happens to the very best of mothers though I think my sister may have developed some neurosis from the incident.

[blindskeeter]

12:48 PM on 01/12/2013

I dont understand why charges were never filed. Neglect is what its called. Who was the 4 adults and group that took her there and which parent authorized it? They should be charged. This was no accident, this was a crime.

[novabird]

05:14 AM on 01/30/2013

It was not a crime. Kids do weird and scary things all the time. My own daughter wandered away one afternoon when she was around that age and playing outside. Luckily we found her quickly.

[Mongoose Lover 2]

05:08 PM on 12/30/2012

Dad: Hey, dear, that looks like our kid on TV.
Mom: Don't be silly.
Announcer: This kid was found at a Chuck E Cheese tonight after...
Mom and Dad: Hey, that's OUR kid!!!!

[patpatde]

01:04 PM on 11/01/2012

Some parents think they are so perfect. Oh my God i would never loose sight of my child. Spare me I wish we were all that perfect. Pat

[amd52]

07:43 AM on 10/31/2012

THIS LITTLE GIRL HAD AN ANGEL THAT NITE, GLAD ALL ENDED WELL FOR HER AND HER FAMILY. BUT, PARENTS WHEN YOU ARE DIVORCED EVEN THOUGH YOU MAY HATE EACH OTHER YOU STILL HAVE TO COMMUNICATE. ESPECIALLY FOR THE CHILDS SAKE. GOD BLESS YOU LITTLE ONE.

[arayamm]

10:06 PM on 08/10/2012

I don't understand how the parents didn't know that their kid wasn't with them?!

[AcaciaJules]

02:13 PM on 12/13/2012

Did you not read the article? They had shared custody, and both assumed the girl was with the other, or one of the relatives who also were there, as she was with the group as they left, but WENT BACK INSIDE after she found a token.

[blindskeeter]

12:49 PM on 01/12/2013

even still,,, all the adults should have been charged with a crime. Responsibility.

[Dee Dunn]

11:00 PM on 06/19/2012

Oh Wow..Glad it ended well...

[Mary2NOLA]

11:45 AM on 06/19/2012

In 1968 our parents took us to look at a house. About an hour later my mom couldn't find my 5 year old brother. They were about to start dragging the lake for his body when we realized we had left him behind at the motel. He was not traumatized at all but since then the story gets bigger with every telling. Neither my sister or I can ever live that one down.

[Redv14]

10:47 PM on 06/11/2012

How the heck do you leave a child in a restaurant and not realize she is missing?

[8xInfinity]

06:21 AM on 06/12/2012

Ask David Cameron, who just did the EXACT same thing: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jun/11/david-cameron-daughter-behind-pub?newsfeed=true

[Redv14]

11:58 AM on 06/12/2012

The two situations are not exactly the same. The kid left at Chuck E Cheese was not with her parents. Cameron's situation is even worse because he and his wife were there and neither made it their business to know who the child was with.

[ndmy]

06:30 AM on 06/12/2012

Well, if you read the article, it states that they co-parented the girl and each thought the other had her.

[Redv14]

11:48 AM on 06/12/2012

I did read the article and it states that the parents thought the child was with other family members. According to this article it appears that neither parent was at the restaurant.

[8xInfinity]

09:00 AM on 06/08/2012

After graduating high school, my senior class (barely 30 students) went on a class trip from Oregon to California in a bus. We stopped for dinner on the way and continued on toward Malibu. About a half hour later, someone realized we were missing one of the guys. We went back and found him, but by then everything around this middle-of-nowhere shopping center was shutting down and he was pretty panicked at being completely stranded without a phone, in the dark, in a different state.

Dude was honestly among the most popular students and we did head counts every where, so even the teacher chaperones were shocked that he was the one we lost. It was seriously a case of "But I was sure he was in the front with you..." and "no, I thought he was sitting in the back with YOU..."

[8xInfinity]

08:52 AM on 06/08/2012

Accidents happen, lots of kids have been left behind on accident, just few ever make it to the national news, and thankfully her parents watch the news. Later on, this will be her greatest childhood story ever. When she's 16, "You didn't buy me a car? Fine, just leave me at Chuck E. Cheese's again, you might as well since you're being so mean!"

[pnshoot]

02:50 AM on 01/11/2013

LOL Cute.

[drudriver]

04:30 PM on 03/17/2012

LUCCCCY! You got some 'plaining to do! Each parent assumed she was with other relatives-just the first in many episodes like this one, I'll bet--this kid has probably just learned a new trick--"mom, I'm going over dad's" "dad, I'll be at mom's"!

[bigjohnstud]

07:11 PM on 03/10/2012

Years ago our family used to make cross state trips to visit relatives in the summer. There were 9 of us kids in the station wagon. On one trip we stopped for a pee break 1/2 way there. After the stop a couple of miles down the road we realized one of us was missing. Dad immediately turned the car around and we found our sister waiting at the gas station. We still chuckle about this some 40 years later.

[kinogod]

03:53 PM on 03/10/2012

There she is, snap! I knew I'd find her.