true crime

An abandoned 5-year-old girl led police to the body of her dead mother.

A 5-year-old girl left by her father at a busy New York bus depot on Monday morning may have led police to her mother’s dead body.

The child was spotted alone on the second floor of the Port Authority Bus Terminal and taken to the local police station, according to NBC 4 New York.

Despite only speaking Spanish, the girl managed to convey to officers that she had been abandoned by her father — 32-year-old Elmer Gomez Ruono — which was later confirmed via surveillance footage.

The girl, who police say is unharmed, also managed to direct them to her family’s Glenbrook apartment where her mother’s body was found, police Captain Richard Conklin told the Stamford Advocate.

There appeared to be some signs of a struggle, leading police to suspect a homicide, though it’s not clear if the little girl witnessed a dispute or a killing.

“We know very, very little because they only moved here within the last day or two from New Jersey,” Conklin said. “We are struggling to come up to speed on this very rapidly.”

The woman’s identity has not been released, but she was Guatemalan born, in her early thirties and had moved into the apartment with her husband and daughter from New Jersey just days earlier.

The family had been celebrating their move with friends and family on Sunday night.

Police have released a photo of the woman’s husband and a search is currently underway.

Feature image: NBC New York