'I lost my 3-year-old': Ohio mom shares tip that brought her child back to safety
An Ohio mom who experienced the scariest day of her life after losing her daughter in a crowd has an important message to share with parents planning to venture out this spring and summer.
Krista Piper Grundey, 36, and her two kids were hanging out in the play space of a museum they frequent in March of last year when her 3-year-old daughter, Lily, went missing, she confirmed with USA TODAY Friday.
"I started calling her name," Grundey shares in a video that now has nearly 700k views. "Right after I started calling her name a little light bulb went off in my head."
Grundey remembered a TikTok she had seen a year or more prior to the incident of a mother who had lost her child in a grocery store.
"Instead of yelling out the kid's name, she yelled out the description of what her child was wearing, and she was able to find her kid way faster," Grundey shared.
So, Grundey began calling out her daughter's description right away. "Little girl, pink shirt, pink Minnie Mouse shirt," she screamed out into the crowd.
Soon she began to hear other moms repeating her daughter's description, joining the effort to locate her little girl. "Thank, God," she Grundey said of the moment she felt she had an army behind her.
Finally, a mom screamed, "Little girl, pink shirt, Minnie Mouse," pointing to Grundey's daughter.
Though Grundey's daughter, Lily, was only missing for maybe two minutes, she shared, she says it felt like an eternity, and truly believes she was able to locate her daughter because of the approach she chose.
"Hopefully this reaches other parents," Grundey said. "And to the moms who may be accusatory in saying, 'you weren't watching your kids'," Grundey says that isn't the case.
"I watch my kids diligently." It could happen to any of us, she says.
Moms weigh in with additional safety tips, support
Other moms in the video's comment section chimed in with how they keep their children safe in crowded spaces.
"I take a picture when we go to crowded places just in case I forget what she's wearing," one mom wrote.
"I try to dress kids in bright clothes when we go to big places," another shared.
Other viewers voiced how they've seen this tactic work themselves.
"This happened at the pumpkin patch last year. Hundreds of people and a mom was screaming about a girl with a blue bow & found her fast," one TikToker said.
Many pointed out how one of the most powerful moments in Grundey's clip was when the other mothers joined to locate her child.
"Aw the moms all coming together makes me wanna cry," one user wrote.
"As a mom if I hear someone yelling a name probably don’t think much of it but yelling a description is like a call to action to moms!" said another.
What else to do if your child goes missing
Yelling out your child's description is an immediate step to take if your child ever goes missing in a public place. Alongside that effort, parents should also:
- Contact staff, if applicable
- Call police, if the child isn't located immediately
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, which is within the Justice Department, says that "law enforcement needs to direct the search effort in order to make sure that the search is performed properly."
If a child goes missing in a mall, for example, you don't want to spend an hour calling out their description and name without getting the cops involved.
"Because time is a critical factor in the search and recovery effort, equipment and staff should be requested at the beginning of the process," the OJJDP states.
Read the OJJDP's extensive guidelines for children who have been missing for under 24 hours here.