On Saturday afternoon, an Oklahoma City youth group was driving by Interstate 40 when they discovered the unthinkable. While driving by the highway, the church members noticed there was a baby in a car seat who had been abandoned in 90 degree weather without food or water, though he did have identification and was left with over $5,000.
As Faithwire previously reported, police said the baby appeared well cared and church members who found him said he didn’t appear to have cuts or bruises. Police estimated the baby boy had been outside for only about 30 minutes before he was picked up by the church group, certainly fortunate considering the weather.
Alex Harrison, whose church group found the baby, told ABC affiliate KOCO that “I think that the church van was in the right place at the right time because they were the first ones who got the baby.” Both church members and Police Sgt. Gary Knight have acknowledged that there could have been a very different ending had the baby not been found when he was.
The child’s mother has been located in Texas and is currently undergoing a mental health evaluation, while her son has been handed over to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services after being considered healthy by the Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center, Crime Online reported in an update. It is up to the Oklahoma City district attorney if she will be charged.
The church goers weren’t the only ones to have been touched by the little boy. Phone calls and emails are pouring in from across the country, as Sheree Powell of the department told KOCO.
“We’re hoping to direct families today on how to find information about becoming a foster parent,” she added. “Hopefully people’s passion will continue and they will follow through with that.”
(h/t Crime Online)