Deserted 5-year-old takes toddler to neighbor in bitter cold

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Authorities say a 5-year-old left alone with a toddler in a rural Alaska village carried the younger child half a mile to a neighbor's house in the bitter cold after the power went out.

Alaska State Troopers said Friday, Dec. 6 that the older child was dressed only in socks and light clothes. Temperatures in the interior Alaska village had dipped to 31 degrees below zero and both children suffered cold-weather injuries.

The adult who left the children alone has been arrested on suspicion of endangering the welfare of a child.