Updated Monday, March 12, 2007 0:00 am TWN, By Betsy Blaney LUBBOCK, Texas, AP Snatched baby found safe in New MexicoFour-day-old Mychael Darthard-Dawodu was in good condition in the city of Clovis, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) northwest of Lubbock, and transportation was being arranged to return the baby to Texas, said Lubbock police Lt. Scott Hudgens. The five-pound (2.3 kilogram) infant was taken early Saturday by a woman who was seen on a surveillance video walking out of Covenant Lakeside Hospital with the baby hidden away in her purse. The disappearance sparked a manhunt and public alerts in Texas and New Mexico, resulting in tips from all around the country. The FBI was interviewing a suspect, said Covenant Health System Vice President Gwen Stafford, adding that the baby’s parents were notified of the recovery. Hospital surveillance footage showed a woman wearing blue and flower-print hospital scrubs and a gray, puffy jacket with a hood walking out of the hospital around 1:20 a.m. Saturday. She fled in a red pickup truck, possibly with a male accomplice, police said. Lubbock police had contacted authorities in Clovis after receiving a tip that a person matching the woman’s description was seen in that city. The abductor had gone into Mychael’s mother’s room several times before the baby was taken, telling her the baby needed tests, Stafford said. Stafford said she did not know why the kidnapper took the baby to the Clovis hospital. The child was suffering from jaundice, a common complication in newborns in which a buildup of pigment in the blood causes a yellowing of the skin. Stafford said the hospital has “a very good and sophisticated security” system. Later she declined to describe the system used with newborns. “I don’t want to compromise the security system,” Stafford said. It was the second hospital abduction in Lubbock in less than a year. In June, a newborn at a different hospital was taken by a woman who had visited the baby’s mother. A tip led to the woman’s whereabouts the next day and she took police to the 5-day-old girl. |
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