Case of toddler abandoned in Del. leads to N.J.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Authorities in New Jersey charged a man today with kidnapping in the case of a 20-month-old girl found abandoned at a gas station in Delaware last weekend.

Dwayne Jackson of Edison also was charged with endangering the welfare of a child by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office. He was held with bail set at $750,000. Jackson also faces a reckless-endangerment charge in Delaware.

The child was found Sunday afternoon in the bathroom of a Shell service station in Newark, Del., by a stranger who heard her crying. A photograph of the toddler was distributed, and she was identified as Jackson's daughter.

The child had been living with her mother, who has not been identified, in North Brunswick, the Prosecutor's Office said. The child was placed in the custody of Delaware's Division of Family Services and was in good health.

The Prosecutor's Office also is investigating the death of a young woman whose burning body was found early Monday in a park in Monsey, N.Y., about 25 miles northwest of New York City. Jim O'Neill, an office spokesman, did not say whether she is believed to be the mother.

The woman was black or Hispanic, about 5-foot-2, and about 120 pounds, police said. She had recently undergone gallbladder surgery, police said, and a tattoo on her back read "Patricia" and included the picture of a rose.