FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A woman who was missing from Fort Lauderdale after leaving her 8-year-old daughter alone last week was found Tuesday night and arrested Wednesday on child neglect charges.

Melanie Parada, 36, was nowhere to be found when her 8-year-old daughter woke up last Friday morning. The two live in an apartment at 15 Isle of Venice off Las Olas Boulevard, just east of downtown Fort Lauderdale.

According to investigators, on Tuesday, Parada made contact with her sister. Homicide investigators said Parada's sister called them late Tuesday and said Parada called her at about 5:15 p.m. Police said they would continue to handle the situation as a missing persons case until they confirmed Parada was OK.

Patrol officers located Parada at about 10 p.m. Tuesday. She was in good condition and was transported to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. She was released a short time later.

On Wednesday morning, Fort Lauderdale police Sgt. Frank Sousa said Parada was taken into custody on child neglect charges.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Parada had called a drug dealer Thursday night to bring her some crack cocaine. At about midnight, police said, Parada left the house while her daughter was sleeping so that she could buy more crack.

At about 7 a.m., the girl woke alone and couldn't find her mother. Witnesses told police that the child walked around the property to look for her and got onto a boat docked nearby, where she talked to an adult, Dave McBride. Police said McBride tried to help the child find Parada and kept her safe until her grandmother could pick her up on Saturday.

According to the affidavit, Parada told police that she left home to buy crack and planned to return right away. Several hours later, she thought about what she had done and decided that her child would "be fine" because the neighbors knew her, and she assumed the child's father would be contacted, police said.

Several neighbors said Parada struggled with a drug problem. Property manager Rich Schleuderberg said Parada had disappeared before but never without leaving her daughter with a baby sitter.

"This is the first time that she's been gone for this long," Schleuderberg said.

Parada missed a court hearing on Tuesday. Court records showed that, last week, Parada filed a domestic violence complaint against William Panero, whom neighbors identified as the brother of her daughter's father. A hearing on the issue was scheduled for Tuesday, but Parada did not show up.

In her complaint to the domestic violence court, Parada claimed Panero came to her apartment twice in the past few weeks, threatening to kill her. She also claimed that Panero sent her a text message on March 4, saying he "wanted her to die a slow death."

Her daughter is now with Parada's mother in Virginia.