A Key West boy was found wandering. The parents are under investigation

While his parents were asleep, a 3-year-old boy left his Key West home last week and was found wandering by himself around the neighborhood.

It was almost 8 p.m. April 30 and the little boy was found near the corner of Tropical and South streets.

A high school student riding her bicycle spotted the child and called police.

The boy couldn’t even tell a police officer his name, let alone show him where he lived, according to the Key West police incident report.

Officer Timothy Malak spent 45 minutes trying to get the boy home before taking him to the police station.

A photo of the missing boy went up on the police department’s Facebook page on April 30 and received a huge response.

That’s how the boy was reunited that night with his parents, Roman and Megan Zadorozhnyy, who are 26 and 23, respectively.

Someone called the father to say his child’s photo was on Facebook.

No charges have been filed but the Florida Department of Children and Families opened an investigation, according to police.

“It was determined by the officer and by the DCF representative that it did not rise to the level for arrest,” said police spokeswoman Alyson Crean.

There was no immediate danger to the child but something needed to be done to assure this doesn’t happen again, an officer with DCF told officers.

The parents said the boy, whose name was redacted in the report, must have sneaked out of his room and out of the house while they were sleeping April 30, police said.

Megan Zadorozhnyy said she had spent all day working outside their South Street home when she came inside and the three of them sat down to watch a movie.

The mother said she fell asleep at about 6:30 p.m. Roman Zadorozhnny said he took the boy to his room to put him to bed at about 7 p.m. and later fell asleep himself.

He learned his son was out wandering from friends calling his phone and telling him about the police’s Facebook post.

Reached Wednesday for comment, Megan Zadorozhnyy hung up on a reporter. Roman Zadorozhnny said he didn’t want to talk at this time.

This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 3:51 PM.

Gwen Filosa

Miami Herald

Gwen Filosa covers Key West and the Lower Florida Keys for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald and lives in Key West. She was part of the staff at the New Orleans Times-Picayune that in 2005 won two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. She graduated from Indiana University.