New details were released on Monday after an Opa-locka Parks and Recreation director was accused of leaving her 5-year-old granddaughter inside a van overnight for more than eight hours.
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Parks and Recreation Director Zonya Ray was cited in connection with the incident, which occurred on March 11. Investigators said the child was discovered around 6 a.m. in the parking lot of an Opa-locka government building on 12950 Northwest 42nd Avenue.
Records obtained exclusively by NBC6 showed that Ray told police that she learned that four of her employees had suspended licenses, which left her responsible for transporting children to a flag football game that day.
Body camera footage shows Ray telling officers that she drove the parks and recreation vehicle to Milander Park to pick up the children, and she also told investigators that at around that time, her granddaughter must have climbed into the van without her knowledge.
“And nobody was looking for the baby at night time?” an officer said.
“Once she goes to sleep in the bed, she don’t get up, she don’t move, but I noticed her brother, when I got home, I got home myself like about 1:30,” Ray said.
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After the football game, Ray said she dropped off the children and returned home, and never realized her granddaughter was still inside the van.
She told police she didn’t discover that the child was missing until the next morning, more than eight hours later.
That’s when she and others ran to the van and found the 5-year-old still asleep inside.
Last week, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office dropped the criminal case against Ray.
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Her attorneys declined to comment.