The grandmother of formerly missing two-year-old Charlee Campbell has been charged with endangering the welfare of a minor.
Charlee went missing Thursday morning for approximately 32 hours after walking away from Beth Campbell’s house. According to the citation, Beth Campbell admitted to Bullitt County Sheriff Donnie Tinnell that she smoked methamphetamine Wednesday night and into Thursday morning before Charlee left the residence, located near Lebanon Junction. According to Sheriff Tinnell, another family member, Robert Bailey, was at Beth Campbell’s residence until 4:30 Thursday morning smoking meth.
Sheriff Tinnell previously said that Beth Campbell awoke at 9:30 Thursday morning to find Charlee was not in the home. Police, though, were not notified about the missing toddler until 10:55, nearly 90 minutes later.
Charlee reappeared early Friday evening at a residence about 500 yards away from where she went missing. Sheriff Tinnell said on Wednesday that his office is obtaining search warrants for multiple electronic devices that belong to several family members in an effort to determine if anyone in the family orchestrated Charlee’s disappearance.
The sheriff said in a press conference on Monday that family members are involved in a custody dispute over Charlee, who has been diagnosed as being in the autism spectrum.
Currently, Charlee is in the custody of Child Protective Services. Family members were in a Bullitt County courtroom on Wednesday trying to regain custody of Charlee.
Beth Campbell is scheduled to appear in court on the child endangerment charge in late June.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com or 270-259-6000
