Authorities in Texas are searching for a suspect captured on video abandoning a newborn baby that still had her umbilical cord attached to her on a walking trail in the blazing heat after a pair of passersby found her and called 911.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office responded to a popular walking trail on Casa Martin Drive near Greenhouse and N. Fry Road in Katy at around 9 a.m. on Saturday after a 911 caller reported finding a newborn girl wrapped in a towel.
The baby was found on a small footbridge over a creek "still with umbilical cord attached," indicating she had just been born, according to a Facebook post by Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
Daniela Fedele told KHOU that she and her husband decided to take a walk in the area with their 3-year-old daughter Saturday morning before it got too hot outside. On their way home, they noticed a towel on the ground.
"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," Fedele told the outlet. "And then my husband like, call 911, call 911 and that's what we did."
The sheriff's office said the baby was transported to a local hospital, and was in good condition.
Security video from a neighbor showed a man placing the baby on the ground on the footbridge and running away. Fedele and her husband appeared just a couple of minutes later.
"Once my husband went ahead and picked up the baby, he found the nearest, like, tree right there, the house down the street. He found a little shade," Fedele said.
"This image has been going on through my head so many times, and this is, like, how can you do that? I was shocked, I was mad, I was upset," she said. "You can drop it off at a fire station, a police station, a hospital. I don't know ... but don't leave the baby."
The sheriff's office is seeking the public's help locating the suspect, described as a slim Hispanic or white male with a fair complexion and black hair. He was wearing a black shirt and possibly gray pants, and was seen on foot on the Plantation Lakes walking trail.
Authorities are asking anyone with information about the male suspect, or the unknown mother who gave birth that morning, to come forward or submit an anonymous tip.
--with reporting by TMX
