Police: Ohio woman, son found wandering at Keystone State Park in Derry Township

Paul Peirce, Tribune-Review, Greensburg, Pa.
·2 min read

Nov. 23—An Ohio woman is facing child endangerment charges after she and her son were found Monday evening wearing wet clothes and wandering near the lake at Keystone State Park in Derry Township while temperatures were near freezing, according to court documents.

The boy, whose age was not listed in the criminal complaint, was taken to Excela Health Latrobe hospital in Latrobe after paramedics determined the child's core temperature was low due to exposure and he needed treatment for a bloody foot. County children's services officials were also notified.

The boy's mother, Melissa Ann Davis, 31, of Austintown, Ohio — near Youngstown — was ordered held in the county prison Tuesday after she failed to post $50,000 bond. She is also charged with criminal trespass, receiving stolen property and theft of services.

Park officer Thomas Gerlach reported he was dispatched at 6:40 p.m. to the cabin area of the 1,200-acre state park for a welfare check after an observer saw a woman wandering in the area accompanied by a young child.

When Gerlach arrived in the area, he could not locate the woman or the boy, but began looking in the lakeside campground area where he discovered Davis and the boy "both wearing wet clothes, no shoes, no proper jacket and bleeding feet."

Gerlach reported that Davis claimed that she had driven to the park in a Ford transit van over the weekend from Ohio with a man named "Rich." She told park officers that the child and she left "Rich" after the couple had a fight.

Park rangers then took Davis and the child to the park office to get warm and to check whether she had a valid cabin reservation, Gerlach said.

Officers said she did not have a reservation and discovered the van with an Ohio license plate parked outside one of the cabins.

Park officials also contacted the owner of the van, registered to a restaurant in Warren, Ohio, which reported that Davis did not have permission to drive the van.

Davis admitted abusing ecstasy while at the park, Gerlach said.

In addition to contacting local child welfare officials, park officials also made a report with the state child abuse hotline, ChildLine.

Park officers did not return calls seeking further comment.

Paul Peirce is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at 724-850-2860, ppeirce@triblive.com or via Twitter .