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Lawyer Offers Explanation For Babysitter's Disappearance With Manhattan Baby

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A babysitter accused of disappearing with a 17-month-old Manhattan girl in her care was back in court Tuesday. For the first time, her lawyer tried to explain where she and the baby went during those hours they were missing.

Beatriz Rios, accompanied by her husband and two daughters was in Manhattan Criminal Court Tuesday. Rios is accused of disappearing last Wednesday, with the child of Melissa and Arthur Ceria.

While she returned with the child in her arms in a dramatic scene, the question remains: Where were they between about 10:15 a.m., when she left for a play date before returning about seven hours later?

"She had maybe a half hour or 45 minutes extra time before the play date, so they just walked through the park a little bit. It was a nice morning," Rios' lawyer, Angahard Vaughan, told CBS 2's Pablo Guzman.

Vaughan tried to fill in some of the holes Tuesday about when Rios says she veered into Central Park from East 101st Street. CBS 2 has tried since Thursday to talk to the little girl's parents, but they have declined.

"And while she was in the park, she was mugged by two people. A man and a woman came up, and...steered her into a part of the park that she was less familiar with," Vaughan said.

Rios told her lawyer that she was mugged soon after entering the park. She also said that things were taken, including her cell phone.

According to her lawyer, Rios said she was disoriented and wandered through the park and allegedly came out at a completely different point -- about 110th Street on the West Side.

"She was in a part of the park that she didn't know where she was. And that's --- then she spent the next several hours trying to find her way out," Vaughan said.

Vaughan lawyer said Rios was afraid to go back into the park and so, spent more time walking around the park from West 110th To East 101st Street.

Meanwhile in court Tuesday, the complaint against Rios was re-filed with child's father himself signing it. It may be a signal that the family intends to keep pressing the charges.

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