Authorities are investigating after a woman abandoned her three young children along a remote Arizona highway when their car ran out of fuel.
According to the Department of Public Safety, a citizen called 911 around 10:20 p.m. Tuesday to report a stranded family along State Route 87 about 24 miles south of Payson.
The caller reported that the woman and her three daughters were stranded because their vehicle had run out of fuel.
When troopers arrived, they found the girls -- ages 1, 3, and 4 years old -- in the car, crying but otherwise in good health.
Troopers, along with Gila County Sheriff's Office and Payson Police Department officers, began searching for the girls' mother as a powerful storm hit the area.
At approximately 6:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, authorities were contacted by a person who saw a naked woman wandering in the northbound lanes of SR-87 two miles from the spot where the children had been left.
The 27-year-old woman was confirmed to be the mother of the three girls, and was transported to a nearby hospital for evaluations.
DPS says they are continuing to investigate the incident.
