Mother Abandons 3 Kids On Island During Camping Trip, Runs Away With Boyfriend

Anderson County, South Carolina -- A mother in South Carolina took her three children on a camping trip and allegedly abandoned them on an island.

The woman, accused of running away with her boyfriend, was later arrested, according to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.

Courtney Taylor had taken her three kids, aged 12, 13, and 15, on a camping trip to Cemetery Island on Lake Hartwell. The island lies along the Georgia border, roughly 65 miles southwest of Greenville, and draws visitors for its water activities.

The stranded children told deputies that they had been camping on the island since Sunday and that their mother’s boyfriend, Eric Elrod, was also with them, the New York Post reported.

Taylor told her children Monday morning that she was going to fetch some water. She left with her boyfriend while the kids waited, and never returned. Officials also said the vehicle the family drove in was no longer at the parking spot on the island.

A boater on the lake found the three children abandoned on the island.

Cops launched a search to locate the missing couple, and Taylor was found in Pickens County on Tuesday. The mother was charged with three counts of child neglect, the sheriff’s office said.

Authorities did not reveal why the mother did not return to her children, according to the Charlotte Observer.

Taylor was taken to the Anderson County jail. She posted $15,000 bail and was released Wednesday.

Deputies also found out that Elrod is wanted by Pickens County Sheriff’s Office for arrest warrants for distributing methamphetamine. He was still missing as of Thursday.

An unrelated incident, reported last year, saw a Texas woman abandon her three adopted children in a filthy house with no food and water. 45-year-old Lorraine Garza of Converse reportedly left three children aged 11, 13 and 15 in a house infested with insects and covered in trash.

The kids told a neighbor that Garza left them alone in the house on June 3. The neighbor fed the children and allowed them to take a bath in her house for nearly 10 days before calling the cops on June 14. Garza was arrested after she was found living in a motel with the children’s 9-year-old brother.