John Jefferson
Background: Deputies at the scene in Texas where a newborn baby was abandoned. Inset: The person believed to have left the child (KHOU screenshots)
Law enforcement authorities in Texas have opened an investigation into a premature baby that had been abandoned — naked, with the umbilical cord still attached and wrapped in a towel — on the side of the road next to a bayou.
According to a news release from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, deputies at about 9 a.m. on the morning of Saturday, June 15, responded to an emergency call regarding a welfare check in the area near the 5500 block of Casa Martin, near Greenhouse and North Fry Road in Katy, Texas. The area is about 250 miles south of Dallas.
Authorities said that the caller told the emergency dispatcher they had found a baby wrapped in a towel and abandoned on the side of the road. Upon arriving at the scene, first responders made a shocking discovery.
“Adjacent to a bayou, a pre-mature infant girl still with umbilical cord attached, was discovered abandoned and wrapped in a blanket,” Sheriff Ed Gonzalez wrote in a Facebook post. “The infant has been transported a hospital in fair condition.”
In a news conference, child abuse investigators said that an unknown male abandoned the newborn on the side of the road and fled the area. Authorities said that if they are able to make an arrest, the suspect would likely face charges of abandoning and endangering a child.
Det. Juan Garcia, of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office’s Child Abuse Unit, described the baby as still being covered in “fresh placenta,” which he said indicated that the child had been born Saturday morning.
The couple that discovered the newborn was a “blessing,” the detective said. He also noted that they witnessed the male suspect putting the baby down and were immediately able to get the newborn out of the elements and contact authorities.
The woman who first spotted the baby, Daniela Fedele, told Houston CBS affiliate KHOU that she and her family were going for a morning walk before it got too hot outside when her own 3-year-old started riding her bike toward the abandoned newborn.
“I noticed two little feet moving and then my husband was right behind me with the dogs, and I yelled to my husband. I’m like, oh my God, a baby, a baby,” she told the station. “And then my husband was like, call 911, call 911 and that’s what we did.”
She said they immediately found some shade and got the baby out of the direct sunlight.
Surveillance video from a nearby home obtained by KHOU showed the individual leaving the child on a small bridge and running away. The footage is grainy, but police described the suspect as a young white or Hispanic male with a slim build and fair complexion. In the footage he appears to be wearing a black T-shirt and gray pants or shorts.
Authorities are asking anyone with information to call 713-830-3250 or Crime Stoppers of Houston at 713-222-TIPS (8477).
Police also emphasized that a newborn can be safely left with authorities at any hospital or emergency medical services station in the state of Texas without charges be brought against the parents.
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