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Frank, 46, said, “How do I adopt this child?”
The unidentified girl was reportedly taken to the bus depot by her father, who abandoned her there Monday morning, police said.
She was found alone but harmed on the second-floor, and Port Authority police came to her rescue.
Police were able to get enough information from the girl to lead them to the Courtland Avenue apartment in Stamford, where her mother was found dead inside a third-floor apartment. Police are calling the case a homicide but have not detailed the cause of death.
Stamford police Lt. Thomas Barcello said the girl is in the care of Connecticut's Department of Children and Families and said police have yet to speak with her. He said as of Sunday, the girl didn't know that her mother was dead.
"We're concerned about the child's emotional state. We are trying to tread there delicately," he said. "She's holding up OK right now, but that's right now. We're dealing with a 5- or 6-year-old child, so we want to tread gingerly. She just lost her mother and she doesn't even know it yet.
"And I don't even know if she can understand the concept of permanency, where mommy is not ever coming back. We are very concerned with the child's mental well being also. She's already going to have trauma for life and it's to limit the impact of it," he said.
A police manhunt continues for Elmer Gomez Ruano, 32, the woman's husband, who was last seen Monday morning on video entering the New York Port Authority Bus Terminal with the couple's 5-year-old daughter.
The couple had been separated but had reunited and had just moved into the Stamford apartment on Sunday afternoon, he said.
Ruano is described as 5-foot-8, and weighing about 140 pounds. He has long black hair, a medium complexion and a medium build.
Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call police investigators at 203-977-4421.
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