By Pat Culverhouse

A child abuse case which began in Florida ended in Minden shortly after 1 p.m. Saturday when the suspect turned herself in at Minden police headquarters.

Maranda Leann Rousseau, 25, a resident of Turtle Dove Dr. In Orange Park, FL, is currently being held at Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center awaiting extradition. She was arrested on a fugitive warrant from the Jacksonville, FL, Sheriff’s Office.

Lt. Shane Griffith, head of the MPD’s Violent Crimes Unit, said Rousseau turned herself after local police applied pressure through extensive search and surveillance which began Friday and continued through the night.

Griffith and his investigators were acting on a “take into custody” order issued by the Duval County, FL, Juvenile Division. A warrant reportedly had been issued for an incident involving an alleged abuse committed on a minor child in May of this year.

“We had received a tip Friday that the subject would be at a W.R. Reeder St. residence here. We made contact with the resident at that address but the subject was not there,” Griffith said. “We left our card for contact and conducted surveillance on the residence throughout the night.”

During the course of their investigation, Griffith said investigators knocked on practically every door in the W.R. Reeder St. neighborhood.

“My team of investigators worked through the night attempting to locate the child,” he said. “We received cooperation from the neighbors, but they didn’t have much information on the subject we were seeking. They made it clear, though, they didn’t want someone like that in their neighborhood.”

Griffith said Rousseau called and advised she was prepared to turn herself in. When she arrived at police headquarters, the two-year-old child was present and appeared to be unharmed.

“Chief Jared McIver has made it a priority to protect the most vulnerable which are our children and elderly,” Griffith said. “When we received the information from Duval County needing our assistance, Chief McIver advised to exhaust every effort in locating this child.”

Griffith issued special recognition to the Louisiana Dept. of Child Protection for their prompt assistance.

This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.