A 3-year-old girl who was found alone in a forest preserve this week may have been left in a trash can, officials said.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services says preliminary results of a child welfare investigation indicates the girl, who was found wandering alone in suburban Prospect Heights, was left in a trash can by her father.

Officials said an investigation was ongoing and an arrest warrant was issued Thursday for the girl’s 35-year-old father.

The young girl named Aliya was found at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday by a passerby near Milwaukee Avenue and Palatine Road, where she was crying and waving her hands, police said.

The girl was identified later that evening and police questioned both parents before taking her father into custody.

The Cook County Sheriff’s office said detectives learned the Aliya’s mother was in the process of filing a missing person’s report for her daughter and her husband Tuesday night when she was found.

Police said the father allegedly left her in the forest preserve “where he believed she would not immediately be found.”

A $300,000 arrest warrant for aggravated kidnapping was issued for Faiz Ikramulla, who was being held at the Van Buren County Jail in Michigan.