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Steamboat Springs — A 3-year-old child was hospitalized with hypothermia Wednesday after apparently wandering away from her home with little to protect her from sub-zero temperatures.

The girl was at Denver Children's Hospital, Routt County Sheriff's Office officials said. Hospital officials would not release information, citing federal privacy laws.

The child was found at about 8:50 a.m. Wednesday on the side of Routt County Road 52E near Fly Gulch, Lt. Bill Brandenburg of the Routt County Sheriff's Office said. The child's name has not been released.

The girl was found by passing motorist Kathleen Fitzsimmons who was driving to work. The child was wearing a long sleeve shirt, but no pants, shoes or socks. Fitzsimmons immediately took the child to Yampa Valley Medical Center, and she was flown from there by helicopter to Denver Children's Hospital, Brandenburg said.

Fitzsimmons said she initially passed the girl but decided to turn around after "looking over her shoulder with a hard stare" and realizing that a child sitting on the side of the road was not normal.

"When I got out of my car and picked her up, she wasn't crying, she wasn't screaming, she was beyond that," she said. "She was freezing, and she was in shock."

Fitzsimmons described the girl as having pink cheeks, cracked, bleeding lips and stiff, rigid, splotchy white arms, legs and feet.

"It was painful for me to look at her," she said.

During the ride to the hospital, Fitzsimmons sat the girl on her lap, turned on the heat and tried to comfort her by telling her she was loved and cared for.

"She said 'Mommy' and 'Go home,' a few times but that was about it," she said. The girl seemed to worsen as she drove to the hospital, she said.

Natalie Goldstein, a spokesperson for Denver Children's Hospital, said Wednesday evening that the hospital had not been authorized to release information about the child, including her condition.

Routt County Sheriff's Office Deputy Brian Rogers said the child sustained "moderate to severe hypothermia" from being exposed to the elements for nearly 35 minutes and minor cuts from getting caught in a wire fence. At the time of the call, Rogers said his thermometer read 6 degrees below zero in Steamboat Springs.

The girl's pants and boots apparently came off when she became tangled in the fence. The girl reportedly walked 60 to 80 feet through 12 inches of snow before making it to the roadway, Rogers said.

The girl reportedly was "lifeless" when she was found, Rogers said.

The girl's parents were compliant with the investigation, and officers do not suspect foul play, Rogers said.

"According to the family, this little girl sounds like she has a tendency to do her own thing and apparently has quite a mind of her own for a 3-year-old," he said.

Rogers did not know how the girl managed to get out of the home.

As part of the investigation, officers called officials with social services to alert them of the incident, he said.

The girl's father left earlier in the morning for work, taking the child's older siblings to school before returning home, Rogers said. The mother was sick and resting and did not immediately notice when the child went missing, he said.

The mother apparently was alerted to the girl's disappearance when she got up. A dog reportedly brought one of the girl's boots to the house in his mouth, he said.

After the girl's parents realized neither one of them knew where she was, the father immediately began looking for the girl by snowmobile, and apparently on foot after finding the girl's garments ensnared on the fence, he said.

The parents "were frantically looking for their child," he said. "At one point (the father's) strides were about 6 to 7 feet apart. He was booking it to find her."

Fitzsimmons said her timing was fortunate - it looked as though the girl had just crawled out of a depression alongside the road.

"I feel for the parents, but it's still very suspicious in my mind," she said. "It was a disturbing thing to find on a freezing morning."

-To reach Alexis DeLaCruz, call 871-4234

or e-mail adelacruz@steamboatpilot.com