Relief: Mystery tot dubbed 'Little L' safe

"LITTLE L," the mystery girl whom Linda Ann Weston gave to neighbors to adopt before Weston's daughter whisked the child away in 2008, is safe and in protective custody.

Little L, now 5, is believed to be the daughter of Tamara Breeden, one of four people found enslaved and barely fed in a sub-basement dungeon in a Tacony apartment building, according to Lt. Ray Evers.

Police are conducting DNA tests to verify that Breeden, 29, is her mother.

"I am so relieved she's OK. That makes me feel so much better," said Chevelle McGill, of Kensington, who took care of Little L for a few months after Weston, who was a neighbor, told her she could adopt her.

The Daily News broke the story of Little L yesterday. Just before Christmas 2008, Weston's daughter, Jane McIntosh, showed up at McGill's home on A Street near Westmoreland and told McGill she was taking Little L to a birthday party and would return. That was the last time McGill saw Little L.

Prosecutors have charged Weston, 51; McIntosh, 32; Weston's boyfriend, Gregory Thomas, 47; and Eddie Wright, 50, with kidnapping the four people, stealing their Social Security checks and locking them in the Tacony basement.

Police rescued eight children linked to the case, including Little L and a 2-year-old boy believed to be her brother, and placed them with the city's Department of Human Services.

Also freed was Beatrice Weston, a daughter of Weston's sister Vicky, who was discovered savagely beaten, with scars on her head, face, arms and legs. She'd been burned with a heated spoon and shot in the ankles with a pellet gun.

The other children, including Little L, were severely malnourished.

Wilbert and Peggy Wanamaker, Tamara Breeden's parents, plan to seek temporary custody of her two children.

"I really believed Linda when she told me Little L was hers," McGill said. "The more I find out, the more shocked I am."

- Staff writer Wendy Ruderman contributed to this report.