CLEARFIELD, Utah — What was supposed to be an exciting first day at day care for Emerhys Guthrie ended up a nightmare for her mother.
Disturbing video clearly shows the three-year old girl walking out of the day care facility in Clearfield earlier this month before she was eventually found down the street at a local grocery store.
Briana Evans dropped her daughter off at Beehive Day care that morning, only to receive a phone call hours later.
"I got a call from the local Winegars over here, and saying that my daughter was there; and I was like, there's no way. I was like, she's supposed to be a day care," Evans recalled.
Evans shared video from the Clearfield Police Department showing Emerhys walking through one room of the day care, out into the hallway and eventually into the lobby.
"When she got to the front door, she opened it and it dinged, so she stopped," Evans explained. "She looked up at the window and the girl who was sitting there facing [the front door], started looking around right as she walked out."
A man driving by saw Emerhys running south down the sidewalk on North 1000 West. That's when he made a U-turn and started following the girl to make sure she was okay.
"The little gal darted down the alleyway where the big trucks go make deliveries at Winegars here, and she was running through and I just, [she was] unaccompanied, something just wasn't right," said Jon Thurman.
Thurman followed Emerhys into Winegars and notified one of the employees, who happened to know her mother and gave her a call.
"I made a little purchase just to try to keep her at ease waiting for the police to show up," Thurman said. "Her mom came in and was very appreciative that somebody had made sure her little girl was safe."
Once Evans got her daughter, she called the day care.
"I just nonchalantly was asking them, you know, how her first day was and they were like, 'Oh, she's doing great. She's in the big kid room playing with toys,' and I was like, 'Really? Because she's standing here right now,'" Evans said.
When FOX 13 News stopped by Beehive Day Care to learn more about the incident, a staff member said management had already left for the day. Several complaints previously made against Beehive can be found on the Utah Department of Health and Human Services website, including several that claimed the day care did not provide or maintain "active supervision of each child at all times."
For Evans, she is thankful that someone like Thurman was there to make sure her daughter was safe that day.
"I don't think if he was there that I don't know what would have happened to her. It's mind boggling."
