A four-year-old girl has been reported missing after a postal worker found her sister, 5, wandering alone near her home.
Police began searching for Athena Brownfield, from Oklahoma, US, on Tuesday afternoon amid concerns for her wellbeing.
However, a postal worker discovered her five-year-old sister near a children’s home in Cyril and quickly contacted police.
The caretaker of the girl, Alysia Adams, 31, was arrested on Thursday afternoon on two counts of child neglect.
Her husband Ivon Adams has also been arrested and is currently being held on a fugitive from justice charge, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said.
According to police, the sisters were allegedly in the care of Adams and her husband when the older of the two children was found wandering the streets.
The search for missing Athena is continuing, police said: "The investigation into her whereabouts is active and ongoing."
A huge missing person operation is underway after the Oklahoma Highway Patrol issued a missing and endangered person to residents in a 15-mile radius of Cyril, which is around 70 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.
Brook Arbeitman, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, said officers are trying to figure out when Athena was last seen.
Arbeitman admitted the whereabouts of the parents is “part of the ongoing investigation.”
She said: "Right now our top priority is locating her and sorting out who’s responsible will come next. But we need to find this little girl.”
Arbeitman refused to say if the girl is a possible victim of physical harm as it is “yet to be determined".
However, she is considered to be in danger at this time, Arbeitman admitted.
She added: "She’s a little child and she's missing, and she's on her own in the elements."
Fortunately her sister did was uninjured and did not need any hospital care. She is currently in protective custody.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and soldiers from Fort Sill are part of the missing person operation.
Officers were searching nearby lakes and search dogs from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections have also been deployed in the search for the missing girl.
Arbeitman added: "We are finding things that we hope might give us clues."
Athena is said to be 3ft tall and weighing 45 pounds and has light brown hair and blue eyes.
Officers have asked any residents and businesses to share CCTV and doorbell cameras in addition to searching their properties.