Cops Searching for Dad Accused of Abandoning Daughter Outside on Near-Freezing Night

Adrian Sanchez is facing a charge of felony child abandonment in the third degree

Police in Utah have obtained an arrest warrant for the man they say abandoned his young daughter on a college campus in the middle of the night, leaving the little girl to sleep outside in near-freezing temperatures.

Heartbreaking surveillance footage captured the two hours that 5-year-old Acelynn Sanchez was left alone on the Ogden Weber Applied Technology College campus on October 8.

She waited for her dad to come back, but he never did, police and the girl’s mother said.

Read: Girl, 5, Left in Near-Freezing Temps for Hours by Her Dad is Now Scared to Be Alone, Mom Says

The video shows a man, identified by authorities as 41-year-old Adrian Sanchez, Acelynn’s father, motioning as if to tell her to stay put before he left. On Thursday, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

She remained there from 5:16 a.m. to 7:26 a.m. wandering in the dark, looking for someone and trying the door handle on a nearby building before she was found by a security guard. 

“I’ve been left with all the questions, and I don’t have the answers,” Acelynn’s mother, Gena Weaver, told InsideEdition.com on Wednesday, crying as she recalled the many questions her daughter has asked.

Read: Parents Whose Son Tried to Sell Toy for Food Plead Guilty to Child Endangerment

“’Why did he do this?’ ‘I can’t believe my dad left me outside.’ ‘What if it was snowing?’” she continued.

Investigators have not yet been able to locate Sanchez, who is now facing felony child abandonment in the third degree.

Anyone with information about Sanchez’s whereabouts is asked to call Ogden Police Investigations at 801-629-8228 or email detectives@ogdencity.com.

Watch: Newborn Boy With Umbilical Cord Still Attached Found Abandoned On Back Porch