ANDERSON — Sabrena Pattat left her Anderson home sometime on the morning of Aug. 6.

She took with her only a few personal effects: some articles of clothing, a laptop computer, a digital camera, her Nintendo DS video game. At 24, she felt ready to strike out on her own.

But Sabrena is not a typical 24-year-old. Diagnosed at birth with cerebral palsy, she is limited both in her motor skills and her intellectual state. Her parents, Thomas and Cheryl Pattat, say Sabrena walks with a limp and has the perpetual mental state of a 16-year-old.

“She’s very intelligent, but she doesn’t have any common sense,” said Thomas, 54. “She’s not a problem-solver. If she gets into a situation that’s difficult for her, she can’t work through it.”

Perhaps, like a willful 16-year-old, Sabrena failed to grasp the consequences of her actions. In a sense, she set out to find a world outside that matched her fantastic world inside.

An uncommon life

Sabrena’s life began in Houston, Texas, Cheryl’s hometown and where Sabrena’s two siblings still reside.

The family made its home in Illinois for 15 years before coming to Anderson in December 2004. The family opened a Culver’s fast-food franchise at 6386 S. Scatterfield Road and bought a home on South Rangeline Road, just outside the Anderson city limit.

At 5 or 6, her parents discovered that Sabrena experienced pround epileptic seizures that could last from seconds to hours. A prescription medication, Tegretol, brought the seizures under control, but it became clear that she would never live a life of full independence.

Sabrena attended school in Illinois through her sophomore year at Blue Ridge High School in Farmer City, Ill., when her parents decided to home-school Sabrena with a focus on life skills.

“We wanted to teach her what she needed to know,” Thomas said. “How to do the laundry, how to balance your checkbook, how to make a grocery list.”

Sabrena sometimes worked at the Culver’s restaurant. Her cerebral palsy meant she received Supplemental Security Income, but it also meant social isolation. Despite her limitations, Sabrena became a strong reader, taking refuge in books, her own writing and the Internet.

And she was smart enough to know that Wednesday, Aug. 6, in particular, would afford her a chance to escape.

“She knows Wednesday is a pretty safe day to leave,” Thomas said. “We have a breakfast group in the morning, so we’re (at the restaurant) at 5:30 in the morning. She knows we’re going to be tied up for several hours in the morning. ... Any other day could be hit-or-miss.”

Thomas said Sabrena cannot drive. Most likely, her parents say, Sabrena took a few flat-footed steps out the door and into an awaiting vehicle that morning.