Laramie mother leaves toddler alone in hot dark room during bar fight

Kayla Marie Clark, 25, is the subject of a court affidavit that says her 2-year-old child was "left home alone for hours" in a "dark, 90-degree room" and was "wearing a soiled diaper" after an altercation at a downtown Laramie bar. The affidavit, filed in Clark’s case and released Monday, links the child's condition to a physical fight officers broke up at the Ranger Bar at 452 N. Third St. in downtown Laramie.

Police responded to the bar and arrived "about 10:15 p.m.," according to the affidavit. Officers described the two women involved as "pulling each other’s hair and crashing around the karaoke area before ending up in an outside patio area." The affidavit states Clark "reportedly bit the other woman on the top of her head" during the scuffle.

While officers were interviewing those involved, the other woman told police she "knew Clark had allegedly left her toddler home alone, and regularly does so," the affidavit says. After that disclosure, the documents report that officers located the 2-year-old at Clark’s residence in the conditions described in the affidavit; the filing ties the discovery to the prior bar response.

The court file characterizes Clark as "combative 25-year-old allegedly assaulting one police officer and interfering with another, all after leaving her young child alone for hours, according to a court file." The affidavit further says Clark "was evasive and tried to steer police to anywhere except the home where the 2-year-old was alone" when questioned by officers. The publicly released court documents provide these details but describe them as allegations; they do not record convictions.

The affidavit and related court documents reviewed by this newsroom do not state whether the child required medical attention, whether Albany County or Wyoming child-welfare authorities were notified, or whether the child was removed from the home. They also do not list formal charges filed against Clark or provide booking and bond information in the excerpts available. Those items remain unverified in the publicly released filings.

Leaving a toddler alone in a hot, dark room raises immediate child-welfare and public-health concerns for community members and for county agencies charged with child safety. The affidavit's depiction of a 90-degree indoor environment and a soiled diaper underscores the types of neglect that typically prompt investigations by child-protective services and prosecutors, though the documents do not say what steps, if any, were taken after officers discovered the child.

The details in the affidavit will be central to whether prosecutors file charges and whether social-services agencies open a formal case. Court documents released Monday present the sequence of events as alleged by investigators; the next steps in the legal and child-welfare processes will determine how Albany County officials respond to the concerns raised in those filings.