The onset of Mother's Day may have been what prompted a tearful 10-year-old girl to find help after four months living alone in a trailer with little food and no running water.

Ashton Denice Saylor said she resorted to eating dog biscuits and puppy food but still attended school after her mother, Audrey Saylor, left home on the child's birthday Jan. 9. At best, authorities said, the girl got only occasional visits from relatives.Police learned about her plight Sunday after she turned to a neighbor, asking if she could stay with him. John Kame said Ashton arrived crying at his door several days before.

Sheriff's Capt. Jerry Griffin this morning said investigators located the mother Sunday. They believed other relatives might have been looking in on Ashton, Griffin said.

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"It may be that the girl maybe was unsupervised instead of abandoned, which is still bad, but it's not quite as bad as being abandoned," he said.

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