Jun 22, 2009 7:32 pm US/Eastern
Police Search For Mother Of Abandoned LI Baby
Newborn Baby Discovered In Lobby Of Building In Hempstead
Reporting
Jay Dow
HEMPSTEAD (CBS) ―
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Nassau County police are searching for the mother who abandoned her baby in Hempstead. The baby was wearing this one-piece outfit when she was found.
CBS
Nassau County Police are searching for a mother who abandoned her newborn baby girl Sunday night. The infant, umbilical cord still attached, was found inside the lobby of an apartment building in Hempstead.
Tenants of 5 Lafayette Avenue are still talking about the startling discovery made in their building, at about 9:30 p.m. Police say the newborn baby girl was found in a Timberland shoe box, abandoned in a vestibule in the building's lobby.
The newborn was wearing a "onesy" with the word "Bounce" across it. She was also wrapped in a yellow baby blanket with little green, purple, and lavender elephants on it. A tenant was coming home to the building on Lafayette Avenue when he noticed movement inside the box and found the little girl. She still had her umbilical cord attached – it was tied off with dental floss.
The building's superintendent, Sandra Sorto, told CBS 2 HD that one of her neighbors called her down to the lobby when they immediately called police.
"We don't know if the mom was indeed the person who left that baby in that hallway. It's possible that mom gave the baby to someone else and asked them to care for it," said Lt. Ray Cote of the Nassau County Police Department.
Sorto told police that none of her tenants are pregnant. But it wasn't until after the officers left with baby Jane Doe, that she realized a visiting relative of one of her tenants is several months pregnant.
"She came to visit somebody in the building and she lives in North Carolina," Sorto told CBS 2.
But it didn't take long for the tenant in question to end all speculation. CBS 2 visited the unidenitified tenant's apartment, who said the pregnant woman hadn't had the baby, and was in fact still pregnant in North Carolina.
Baby 'Jane Doe Hope' is under evaluation at Nassau County Medical Center.
A local resident expressed her concern.
"I'm surprised that one of her friends or someone didn't know, said Reamellow Foskey. "I mean, someone had to know, her mother or someone. Too bad she didn't know me, she could have brought the baby to me."
Because the mother did not leave the infant at a designated location under New York State's Safe Haven Law, such as a hospital or police station, the search for the mother is now part of a criminal police investigation.
The baby girl appears to be light-skinned. The box she was left in was for a pair of Timberland work boots. Police are hoping someone will recognize the clothes and blanket she was left in.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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