Spring Hill, Florida -- A Spring Hill mother was arrested and faces child neglect charges after deputies say her 10 year old son was found walking in the street, naked and drunk.
A couple out walking their dog stumbled across 31-year-old Nedra Byrd's son Thursday at 7:30 p.m. They took the boy to Amanda Roesch's home. She and her husband know the little boy because he's been over at their home many times before.
Amanda says, "They brought him here. We have kids that go to school with him."
The Hernando County Sheriff's office was called and detectives say when they arrived at the boy's home his mother didn't open the door. A man named James Shannon opened up and said he thought the child was in his room. Byrd they say was passed out on the couch and appeared drunk.
When she came to they say she too said she thought her son was in his room. When asked if she'd been drinking she reportedly said "Yeah. I'm drunk as hell."
Amanda adds, "This little boy he said all I want for my mommy is to go to rehab and to get anger management because mommy drinks to feel better cause she's mad. He's ten. Really? He had to to take care of mom how do you not know your child is naked drunk and missing?"
Detectives talked to the 10 year old who they say confirmed that his mother had been drinking Christian Brother's Brandy for most of the day. But the bombshell he told detectives was that his mother gave him four shots of the hard liquor. Roesch says, "He was so intoxicated he didn't realize that he didn't have any clothes on."
When asked, detectives say the child admitted he had drunk alcohol before.
The Department of Children and Families took the boy into custody, and later did bloodwork that showed the his blood alcohol content was .108.
Deputies found a half-empty bottle of Christian Brothers Brandy with a shot glass sitting on Byrd's kitchen counter.
Byrd was arrested on one count of child neglect, and placed on $1,000 bond.
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