Thornton husband defends wife accused of leaving children in van | News

THORNTON, Colo. -- A Thornton mother who abandoned her two little boys in her van on Saturday is now getting help at Denver Health.

Sarah Hatfield's husband Matt Hatfield said his wife is undergoing several medical tests at Denver Health.

He said they're hoping to find answers as to why his wife left her two little boys in her van and was found almost 12 hours later miles away.

Hatfield said his wife drove her van to Western Gas Station on Thornton Parkway at around 12:30 Saturday afternoon.

He said she parked her van with her five and two year old boys strapped in their car seats and than just walked away.

"Her cell phone, her keys, her wallet with her ID, her library cards were all left in the vehicle with the boys," said Matt Hatfield, Sarah's husband.

Thornton police began searching for the mother, but couldn't find her or anyone who had seen her.

Then, 12 hours later Sarah's husband said he got a call from his wife from National Jewish Hospital. She told him she borrowed a phone from a security guard there.

"She was frantic. She didn't know where she was or how she got there," said Matt Hatfield. The hospital is about 12 miles away from where she had parked her van. Matt believes his wife was mentally unstable and walked to the hospital.

He said his wife, who he's been married to for three and half years would never purposely leave her boys.

"There has never been any indication whatsoever that she would leave me to believe that she's an unfit mother, that she would be capable of abandoning them or harming herself," Hatfield said.

However, Thornton police officers interviewed Sarah that same night and they say she didn't seem confused or disoriented, which is why they charged her with two counts of child abuse and booked her at the Adam's County Jail.

A Thornton police spokesman said that they are working with the Hatfield family and plan to share Sarah's medical records with the DA's office.

Matt Hatfield said preliminary tests show his wife may have suffered from a seizure which resulted in amnesia.