A man abandoned a newborn girl near a Texas walking path on a hot Saturday morning, officials said.
The baby was “freshly born this morning,” police said during a press conference. She was found in Katy, about 30 miles west of Houston, around 9 a.m. by a pair out for a walk with their child and dogs. The newborn was wrapped in a towel.
The couple who spotted the baby were out early to try and avoid the heat, Daniela Fedele told CBS News affiliate KHOU. Their 3-year-old daughter was riding her bike toward the newborn when they noticed the towel-wrapped infant.
“I noticed two little feet moving and then my husband was right behind me with the dogs, and I yelled to my husband. I’m like, ‘oh my god, a baby, a baby,'” Fedele told KHOU. “And then my husband like, ‘call 911, call 911’ and that’s what we did.”
The newborn girl was born premature and still had her umbilical cord attached, Harris County Sheriff Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said on social media. She was taken to a hospital for treatment and was described as being in stable condition.
“The child wasn’t out in these elements, which is very hot right now, for a long time,” Sgt. Juan Garcia said during a press conference.
Fedele told KHOU she couldn’t understand why someone would abandon a baby.
“This image has been going on through my head so many times, and this is, like, how can you do that? I was shocked, I was mad, I was upset,” Fedele said.
Gonzalez said the man who is believed to have left the baby on a bridge at the start of a walking trail in Katy was young. He’s described as being slim, with a fair complexion and black hair. The man was wearing a black shirt and may have been wearing gray pants.
The man who left the newborn could face charges of abandonment and endangerment of a child, police said. Texas has a Safe Haven law that allows people to leave an unharmed child without fear of prosecution for abandonment.