Baby Found Safe After Car Stolen Outside Fort Lauderdale Laundromat
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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Fort Lauderdale police continue to search for a man suspected of stealing a car outside a laundromat Monday afternoon with a 10-month-old baby inside.
The vehicle was recovered a few hours later in Pompano Beach with the child inside unhurt.
Susely Lopez told CBS4 News that she arrived at the Laundromax laundromat on Sunrise Boulevard but her daughter, Yareli, was sleeping so she decided to let her stay in the running car.
"Yes, I came to get the clothes that I had left in the dryer, and I left the car running because my daughter was sleeping and I didn't want to bring her down," Lopez said in Spanish. "When I came outside, the car was gone."
Surveillance video from inside the Laundromax obtained by CBS4 News shows a man walking around, possibly casing the area and checking out a car that was still running outside the business.
A short time later, the man walked to the car and the cameras capture the car leaving.
A witness, Brian Teller, said he saw the man get in the car.
"Just somebody that came out here and got in the car very casually," Teller said. "Didn't really seem like a crime honestly."
Police descended on the laundromat and began a search for the car and the baby.
After two hours, an Amber Alert was issued for the child.
Tense moments passed with parents waiting and fearing the worst.
At around 6:30 p.m., Lopez emerged from the laundromat, climbed into a police car and headed to the scene in Pompano Beach where her car was recovered and her baby found unhurt.
Minutes later she could again cradle her daughter in her arms.
"From what we're being told the baby is in good health right now," Detective Tracy Figone told reporters.
But the thief and kidnapper was nowhere to be seen, police said.
"We do have an active search for the suspect," Figone said.
Officers said the suspected carjacker is around 20 years old and was last seen wearing a long sleeve jacket or shirt, blue jeans and Timberland boots.
If you know who stole the car, contact Broward Crime Stoppers at (954) 493-TIPS.
