SCOTT COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Heather Adkins admits she did wrong.
"It's all on me," Adkins said while behind bars at the Scott County Detention Center.
Adkins said she takes responsibility after her young son, Martin Thomas Adkins, was found abandoned on the side of a dark, dead-end street in Ohio. It's an incident that has left both friends and family upset and confused.
"It's just like a nightmare," Sharon Eads, Martin's grandmother, said. "I mean I love my daughter, I'm her mother, but I love my grandchildren too. And I don't know what set this off. I really don't."
When asked whether she abandoned Martin in Ohio, Heather responded, "No, I left him with Patty. That's where he wanted to be."
She said Patty is her friend who lives in Indiana. When LEX18's Kristen Edwards pressed her and asked how Martin ended up by himself in Ohio, she changed her story.
"I had him to wait in the car because I ran out of gas and I had to go forward to get help when it was the middle of the night and I didn't have a phone or anything to call for help and I knew the car was the safest place for him to be," Heather said.
"But you just said that you left him with Patty so which is it?" Edwards asked. "Did he leave this car alone or did you leave him with Patty?"
"He left the car on his own," Heather responded.
When asked why she didn't take her son with her to get help, she said she was worried for his safety.
"I was just terrified that he would try to dart off into the lights because he, the lights intrigue him and if he goes toward the lights, you know, the lights are the headlights and he would have gotten hit," she explained.
She admits it was the wrong choice.
"I should have known better being his mother," Heather said.
"Known better to do what?" Edwards asked. "What would you have done differently?"
"I would have kept him with me the entire time," Heather replied.
She said it's all her fault, but that she doesn't deserve to be in jail and she deserves a second chance.
Meanwhile, a kidnapping charge waits for her back in Ohio.
She said she has no intention of willingly facing that charge and that she will fight extradition.
"No, I don't plan on going back there at all," she said.
In court Tuesday afternoon, Judge Sarah Hays assigned defense attorney, Vinny Morris, with the Public Defender's Office to Adkins. Her bond is set at $10,000. Her next court date is set for March 8th.
Before then, Adkins can discuss extradition options with Morris. On the 8th, she is expected to either waive her extradition hearing and head back to Ohio or fight extradition.
She could, however, decide to waive her extradition hearing and head back to Ohio prior to March 8th.
