Hong Nguyen doesn't normally jog down 11300 Block of Ella Boulevard, but this Monday morning, she found herself turning left toward the busy stretch of road. And as luck would have it, the early-morning jogger found the most unexpected thing hidden among the bushes next to the road - a baby girl strapped to her car seat.
Eight-month-old Genesis Haley was sleeping on the backseat of her mother's car around 1:30 in the morning when her mother stepped out at a Texaco gas station to pick up a soda at the gas station's convenience store. Texas police say they obtained surveillance video footage from the convenience store that shows a black male jumping into the driver's seat and speeding away, all the while hitting the car against the gas pump railing in his haste.
Police raised an Amber Alert and deployed K-9 officers and one helicopter in search of Genesis Haley. They found the car abandoned on 1400 Block of Greens PKWY a few hours it was stolen. The license plates were gone and there was a baby blanket and other items strewn on the grassy patch next to the car, but there was no baby. It was only at around 7:30 that morning when Nguyen came jogging along to find Genesis Haley.
"I see a baby moving in the car seat and crying, so I called 911 and I stay there with the baby," Nguyen told (video) KTRK-TV. "That's my duty as a human being to do that. I can't believe - it was so scary to see that situation."
Authorities say the little girl had suffered from ant bites and had a few ants crawling on her when they found her. Officer Albert Pizana, himself a father of young children, wrapped the baby in his uniform shirt to keep her warm on the drive to the Texas Children's Hospital, where physicians checked on her and, except for the ant bites, thankfully declared the baby in good condition.
"Whenever we can recover a baby that's alive, it feels good. It makes you want to go home and hug your kids tighter," says (video) Pizana.
Genesis Haley is now back with her mother, but the suspect who kidnapped her and stole her mother's car is still on the prowl. The Houston police department has released a drawing of a black male seen to be in his late teens or early 20s and around 5 feet 9 inches in height. Anyone who knows the whereabouts of the suspect are urged to call the police at 713-308-3600 right away.
