Woman found wandering naked on Arizona highway after abandoning kids: police

PAYSON, Ariz. -- (KNXV) -- Authorities are investigating after a woman abandoned her three young children along a remote Arizona highway when their car ran out of fuel. According to the Department of Public Safety, a citizen called 911 around 10:20 p.m. Tuesday to report a stranded family along State Route 87 about 24 miles south of Payson.

The caller reported a woman and her three daughters were stranded because their vehicle had run out of gas. When troopers arrived, they found the girls -- ages 1, 3, and 4 years old -- in the car, crying but otherwise in good health.

Officers, began searching for the girls' mother as a powerful storm hit the area, finding her about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, after a witness reported seeing a naked woman wandering in the northbound lanes of SR-87 two miles from the spot where the children had been left. The 27-year-old woman was confirmed to be the mother of the three girls, and was transported to a nearby hospital for evaluations.