WORCESTER (WHDH) — The grandmother of Ella Abbott, the girl whose disappearance Wednesday night triggered an Amber Alert, said she is frustrated that she cannot have custody of the 3-year-old.
An Amber Alert was issued late Wednesday night after Ella and her mother went missing. Dale Abbott, Ella’s grandmother, said she got a text message from Ella’s mother, saying she needed to take Ella with her and that she was sorry. Abbott then contacted police.
“Right then and there, I knew she was gonna kill her,” said Abbott.
Police said Ella and her mother, Lee-Ann Rickheit, were found in Charlton hours later. Police said the car’s exhaust pipe was stuffed with clothing and the two of them were inside the car as it was running. Both were taken to the hospital and Abbott said she briefly got to see her granddaughter.
“They let us see her today for 30 seconds, maybe a minute. She was so happy to see us and then we had to leave,” said Abbott.
The 3-year-old is in the custody of the Department of Children and Families, who plan to place her with a foster family. Family members said Rickheit called her sister and asked her to fight for Ella.
“This child’s been traumatized, she’s seen her mother nearly kill her, she woke up in the hospital, she knows nothing. To send her to a stranger’s house, she doesn’t know what’s going on and she’s not with any of us,” said Rickheit’s sister.
Family said Rickheit has a history of mental illness and had not taken her medication.
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