A 38-year-old Bandera County woman is facing charges of endangering and abandoning a child without intent to return.
A Bexar County affidavit says Natalie Rose Munno was seen on surveillance footage June 13 at a coffee shop in San Antonio taking her 15-year-old autistic, nonverbal daughter out of a car, walking her into a dumpster area, and closing the metal doors of the area with the girl inside.
The teenager was discovered by a coffee shop employee hours later. She was admitted to the hospital for multiple days with dehydration and a bruised hand.
Officials could not identify her.
The next day, Natalie’s mother, Lisa, filed a missing person report for her granddaughter.
Munno told Bandera County Detective Matthew Jacobsen she found social services for Children Customer Service, arranged a meeting with someone named Sarah and relinquished her rights to her child at a Costco.
She could not provide contact information to the detective, though the coffee shop was near the Costco intersection of Potranco and 1604.
Four days later, an Amber Alert was activated by Jacobsen, which led to the discovery of the girl the same day.
Bexar County investigators received the surveillance video from the coffee shop on June 26.
The grandmother would confirm the identity of the people in the footage as her daughter and granddaughter on July 31.
Munno, who resides on N Lakeshore Drive, was arrested and booked in a Bexar County Jail on Sunday, August 4.
This is a developing story. For the latest updates, see next week’s Bulletin.