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Officials: Mom who allegedly abandoned son in custody

The West Philly woman accused of abandoning her quadriplegic son in the woods near Cobbs Creek earlier this month is in custody in Maryland, officials said.

Nyia Parler, 41, is behind bars at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Boyds, Md., according to a spokesperson for the prison. She faces an extradition hearing tomorrow to return to the city, where police have issued a warrant for her arrest on attempted murder and related offenses.

Investigators tracked Parler to Silver Spring, Md., where police said she was visiting her boyfriend. After her arrest April 10, she was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of an undisclosed condition, according to Capt. Paul Starks of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department.

Parler had remained in the hospital until this weekend, when she was transferred to the prison.

She allegedly confessed that she deliberately abandoned her son, Daequan Norman, in a wooded area in Cobbs Creek Park near 59th Street on April 6, hours before boarding a bus to Maryland, police said.

A passerby found Norman, 21, a few days later wrapped up in a blanket. The man, who has cerebral palsy, was dehydrated and malnourished, and police said his eyes were damaged. He also suffered a cut to his back and was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for treatment.

He remains hospitalized at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, police said.