A disturbing video captures a man abandoning a naked newborn in the sweltering Texas heat before fleeing to avoid detection. Later, a passing couple discovered and rescued the baby. The infant, still unidentified, was found with the umbilical cord attached, left on a bridge over a creek in Katy, wrapped only in a towel, on Saturday, June 15. At that time, temperatures had soared to 95 degrees.
Harris County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Juan Garcia reported that the pre-term baby “still had fresh placenta… so it was freshly born” that morning. Blurry surveillance footage shows the man placing the baby down, walking away slowly, and then sprinting. Shortly after, a couple walking nearby with their child spotted the baby and rushed over to rescue it, protecting the infant until the police arrived.
“I was shocked, I was mad, I was upset”
“I noticed two little feet moving and then my husband was right behind me with the dogs and I yelled to my husband and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, a baby, a baby,’” Daniela Fedele told KHOU. “And then my husband [says] like, ‘Call 911, call 911,’ and that’s what we did.”
“Once my husband went ahead and picked up the baby, he found the nearest, like tree, right there at the house down the street. He found a little shade,” she added. “I was shocked, I was mad, I was upset,” she said about finding the baby girl alone. “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 couple waited until the police arrived and then handed the baby over. The child was taken to a local hospital and is now in good condition, according to police.
Neither the baby’s mother nor the man who abandoned her has been identified. Garcia described Fedele and her husband as “a blessing” for saving the infant.