Deputy Credits 'Touch Of God' For Saving Newborn Buried Alive
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, who dug a newborn girl out of a hole in Compton where she was buried alive, said he believed the infant had "a touch of God that day" to survive.
Deputy Adam Collette described for reporters Monday how he kneeled on asphalt near a bike path last week and heard the muffled cries of the infant. The deputy said he and his partner discovered the baby buried under pieces of asphalt and rubble in a crevice near a river bed on Friday, Nov. 27
"Even when I heard the baby cry, we came to the hole in the ground. I know what I was hearing. I was hearing a faint baby cry," Collette said. "As I am digging in the hole, I still didn't believe it."
Collette, a father of two, said he knew from the sound that the baby was hungry and cold. When he picked her up and rocked her, as he did his own daughters, the baby stopped crying.
"For a baby to feel cold and alone and dark for so long. I think just any kind of sunshine, any body holding the baby was just going to be great for the baby." Collette said. Doctors said the baby would have died within hours if she was not found.
The sheriff is asking the public's help in locating the child's mother. Investigators said when the baby was found, she was wrapped in hospital blanket. Therefore, they think she was born in an area hospital.
County officials said the mother could have just left the baby at the hospital and would not have faced prosecution under L.A. County's Safe Surrender program, which allows for a newborn to be dropped off at any hospital or fire house within 72 hours of the birth — no questions asked.
County Supervisor Don Knabe, who started the program, said 16 babies have been safely surrendered this year.
"It's hard to believe that someone doesn't have a friend or family member or some one to confide in. They get pregnant in secret. They hide the secret. Then they want to throw away the secret," Knabe said.
"The infant is in the hospital today. And very soon, we're going to need a foster home for that child. So I would encourage all of you and the viewing public to think whether you could take in a young child like this," said Philip Browning of the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services. Browning said his department has 500 children in the system who need a home.
If you would like to be a foster parent, call the Dept. of Children and Family Services' Foster Parent Hotline at (888) 811-1121
Detectives from the department's Special Victims Bureau asked anyone with information regarding the newborn to call them at (877) 710-5273.
