An hours-old newborn baby girl with an umbilical cord still attached was abandoned by a man along a walking trail as scorching heat in Texas continues to impact the region.
Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputies are on the lookout for a young, slim Hispanic or white man, with a fair complexion and black hair, after the unidentified man allegedly was seen holding the infant wrapped in a towel.
The baby, described as a premature infant girl still with the umbilical cord attached, was discovered on Saturday morning abandoned and wrapped up in a towel on a bridge along a walking trail in Katy, Texas.
The baby girl was taken to the Methodist Hospital in Katy and remains in good condition, the police said, adding that Child Protective Services will step in for the child’s care shortly.
Now that the baby is safe, officers are trying to seek information on the young man spotted with the baby wrapped in the towel.
The authorities said he was wearing a black shirt, possibly gray pants, and walking on foot on the Plantation Lakes trail.
The baby was found on the 5500 block of Casa Martin, near Greenhouse and N Fry Road in Katy.
Sergeant Juan Garcia, an investigator from the child abuse unit at the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, said in a short news briefing on Saturday that he believed the baby was born that morning due to an attached umbilical cord as well as fresh placenta on the baby.
“The two witnesses that were thankfully walking on the trail with their child and their dogs were a blessing,” Garcia emphasized.
“They were able to notice right away a male walking away from a white towel; they discovered the child and immediately contacted 911 so the child wasn’t out in these elements, which is very hot right now, for a very long time,” he added.
Forecasters warned over the Father’s Day weekend that hot and humid weather would hit the areas surrounding Houston, according to the National Weather Service.
On Saturday, the maximum temperature forecast for Katy was majorly high, at a possible 95F, meaning the abandoned baby could have experienced sweltering heat if not found as soon as she was.
“We were coming back from our walk this morning, heading home because it was hot,” Daniela Fedele, who spotted the towel, told KPRC. “When I went ahead and looked closer, that’s when I noticed a little baby would like her two feet moving. I think it was like, am I seeing this, right? Like, are my eyes really seeing a baby here?”
“I hold it. The baby opens their eyes to me, looked at me,” her husband, Luis Marin, added to the outlet. “We make eye contact. And I’m like, how can somebody just do this?”
As of Saturday, Garcia said that they had yet to receive any leads but were reviewing possible surveillance footage near where the incident happened.
He said that the charges relating to this incident would be abandonment and endangerment of a child.
Garcia urged any parent who needed any help after giving birth to a newborn baby, to take advantage of the Baby Moses, or Safe Haven, law, which allows people to bring their newborn to a designated safe place with no questions asked,
The law allows for locations such as hospitals and fire stations to receive a newborn baby from parents who think they will be unable to care for the infant.
Anyone with information regarding this case is urged to call us at 713-830-3250 or Crime Stoppers of Houston at 713-222-TIPS (8477).
