A newborn is in the care of Child Protective Services after she was discovered by passersby at a apartment complex in Texas.
Two men discovered the newborn baby in the bushes around 5 a.m Thursday morning while walking to work.
“It’s like they just left the baby out there like it was trash,” John Baldwin told ABC 7 News.
Another passerby first heard the baby’s muffled cries.
“I heard like a baby, like a cat cry, like, meow…”, Albert Peterson recalled. He then called for his wife to call 911 as he ran to find something to get the baby warm and clean.
The baby, who was believed to be just hours old, was covered in afterbirth and insects.
“I saw ants and stuff all over. I picked her up, cleaned her off, put her in a sheet and took her in my house,” he said.
Authorities said the newborn was full-term and healthy with the umbilical cord still attached. They were able to track down the woman they believe to be the mother at a nearby apartment.
Sidney Woytasczyk, the child’s mother was found at a nearby apartment. She was detained and held a psychological and medical evaluation.
On Friday during a court hearing, graphic evidence was presented by investigators showing the umbilical cord was ripped, not cut out, causing the baby to have a bacterial infection.
It was revealed the baby was left outside, alone in the dirt for six hours before she was discovered.
“Because how the child was found, the child was found unprotected, exposed to, almost to the brink of possibly being deceased,” Dan-Phi Nguyen said, with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
Deandre Skillern, the man claiming to be the father of the baby, told the court he had no idea the mother was pregnant.
Skillern has taken a DNA test and he is asking for custody of the baby. The baby’s maternal grandmother is also asking for custody so CPS will have to determine where the newborn will be placed.
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