Baby missing after carjacking found abandoned on porch
DETROIT -- Police say a 3-month-old girl has been found safe after her father's car, with her inside, was stolen from outside a Detroit liquor store.
Police say the father told investigators he left the car running with Dakota Grimes sleeping in the back around 1 a.m. Monday while he ran into the store on the city's east side. He returned to discover the white 2006 Chevrolet Impala - and his daughter - missing.
Shortly after an Amber Alert was broadcast, the child was found on the porch of a nearby home, still strapped in her car seat.
Gary Zielinski, who spotted the child around 7:15 a.m. Monday, told the Detroit Free Press she was wearing a pink coat and wrapped in a pink blanket, a pacifier in her mouth. Temperatures had reportedly dipped to 39 degrees.
Zielinski said he had stopped by the home, where his friend Ray Harper lives, to pick him up for work. He was a bit early, and when his friend didn't answer the door, he went to the back window to tap on his bedroom window. That's when he spotted the child.
Zielinski said the two took her inside, thinking at first someone was playing a joke on them. It was only then they saw a news report and realized the child was the subject of an Amber Alert. They called 911 and wrapped her tightly in her blanket to help warm her up until help arrived.
He said the child went back to sleep.
" She was just as calm as can be in this type of situation," Zielinski told the paper.
He said that if he hadn't been early that day, he wouldn't have noticed the girl.
"It's a miracle we saved that child," Zielinski told the paper.
The child was taken to a hospital as a precaution, but appeared to be in good condition, officials said. Officials told the paper they are investigating why an Amber Alert wasn't issued until 7:40 a.m.
The car was recovered Monday afternoon in nearby Harper Woods, police said. One person was taken into custody, and a search was continuing for more suspects, the paper reports.