Toddler abandoned at bus stop released to family

DETROIT (WXYZ) - Shortly after midnight Tuesday morning a toddler who was left to fend for herself at an east side bus stop Monday afternoon was reunited with family and sent home.

Detroit Police released little Serenity into the care of her aunt. 

Serenity's aunt showed up at Detroit's health services department where Serenity was being housed after seeing news reports about the abandoned toddler. Serenity's mother also came to the building. Police identified the mother as Nicole Howell.

Howell says she left Serenity in the care of the toddler's father Monday and was repeatedly told by the father that Serenity was being fed and properly cared for.

Police have still not been able to track down the father.

The ordeal began Monday at around 3 p.m. at a bus stop outside Marvin Winans' Perfecting Church on Detroit's east side. Witnesses say Serenity walked up with a man in his 20's to the stop at Van Dyke and Nevada. We're told the young man turned and left Serenity - witnesses say people called for him to come back but he kept going, leaving Serenity to fend for herself.  

A passerby brought the girl into Perfecting Church, which is widely known because of its presiding pastor, Marvin Winans.

"We tried to talk to her, to see if she would give us her name," said Renee Compton, a church worker. "We just provided snacks for her and played around with her."

The case is being handled by the Detroit Police Department Child Abuse unit.