LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For one Louisville grandmother, it was an experience that could only be deemed a nightmare.
"I went ballistic, screaming, crying -- I was out of my mind," Barbara Martin said.
Martin recalled the crippling moment when 8-month-old Aza Michelle was locked inside a daycare that borders the Russell and California neighborhoods.
"I'm still messed up about the fact that happened," she said.
Martin said the Lil Angels Enrichment Center typically closes no earlier than 6 p.m., but when she and her family arrived at 5:30 p.m. on Friday to pick up Aza, the doors were locked and they heard crying inside.
"She was just screaming in there in the dark by herself!" Martin said. "We heard her screaming but we just couldn't get to her."
The family called 911, but before police arrived she said her children were able to open the backdoor with tree branches.
"They were running through the daycare trying to find her. She was just screaming! And they found her in a play pin on the floor."
Martin says an employee told her they forgot to check before leaving early.
"How could you leave a whole body? My baby ain't nothing but 8 months old. Just a whole body in a daycare."
When WHAS11 spoke with the daycare's owner, Alia Lee, on Tuesday, she offered her apologies to the family.
"I do feel bad and I'm very hurt for what happened," Lee said. "Nothing like this has ever happened."
According to inspection reports on Kentucky's Childcare Center Database, the Louisville daycare has a history of compliance issues dating back to 2016.
Prior investigations allege school-age children were left outside of the daycare alone, as well as employing a substitute with a history of child abuse and neglect cases.
One investigation involved a crash that sent three children to the hospital by ambulance-- according to the inspection reports-- there were four booster seats and one car seat in the van carrying nine children.
There were also three more incidents that led to investigations in 2016, and 11 total investigations between 2017 and May 2023.
"How many other babies they've done something to, that the mothers didn't come and say nothing about?" Martin questioned.
Right now, the daycare is under a "plan of correction" to fix the issues within the facility. But Martin stresses when it comes to children -- that's not enough.
"They need to shut them down because they neglected my baby," she said. "They need to shut it down. 'Sorry' don't cut it for me!"
Martin said there are still some unanswered questions about her case like why was the daycare closed early and why she wasn't notified.
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