Good Samaritan saves young girl from freezing, then comes home to find girl's mother dead

Marjorie Bertrand/Unsplash

God's help comes in the form of good Samaritans. When a four-year-old girl was left alone in the park in freezing temperatures, God sent a Utah man to save her.

Marcus King was on his way to play pickup basketball on Wednesday afternoon when he heard the young girl called out to him from a playground near the Marshall White Community Center in Ogden, according to KTSU

He initially dismissed the cry, but the girl kept calling. "I had heard a little girl's voice inside the park, didn't really think nothing of it... once I came around this way she had got my attention," he said.

King was alarmed to find that the girl was alone and not properly dressed for the freezing weather. "She didn't have any jacket, no shoes, no parental supervision, and just took action then and took her inside," he said.

The staff of the community center helped him call the police. King stayed with the girl for almost three hours until the police located her mother. "When they walked over there, the door was wide open," King said. "And the way the little girl was explaining it was: Her mom wasn't paying attention, and her mom was on the floor sleeping."

Lt. Tim Scott from the Ogden Police department said the girl's mother, 41, has been dead for nearly 24 hours when the young girl was found by King. "She was living alone with her mother. There is no sign of foul play. There are some pre-existing medical conditions that may have played a role," Scott said.

The young girl thought her mother was sleeping, so she left the apartment and went across the street to the playground. King was just glad that he got to the young girl on time.

"This is not a good part of Ogden - there's a lot of weirdos around here, and I'm really, really fortunate and happy that I got to her, and nobody else did," he said.

To help pay for her mother's funeral expenses, a relative set up a YouCaring website. So far, $1,475 has been raised out of the intended $10,000 goal. "We ask for your help to pay for funeral expenses. Any additional funds you provide will be dedicated to the care and support of DeLynn's daughter," the page read.