SEYMOUR, Ind. — Seymour police are looking for the person responsible for leaving a baby in a plastic bag outside near a fence who was just hours old.
A woman who was walking her dog in the 600 block of Jackson Park Drive near Hillcrest Drive found the baby in the bag just before 4 P.M. Tuesday.
"The animal led her to the location where the bag was," Detective Sgt. C. J. Foster at Seymour Police Department said.
The baby is alive and is doing fine, according to police.
"Our main focus now is trying to find the mother," Foster said. "We want to make sure that she is okay since she had a child outside of a hospital environment, and then ultimately trying to figure out why things happened the way they did."
What happened Tuesday could potentially lead to criminal charges.
"The mother could be looking at child abandonment or neglect of a dependent," Foster said.
Nearby surveillance cameras led police to a dead end. Indianapolis affiliate WTHR said the plastic bag will likely be sent to the State Police labs to be checked for fingerprints and other evidence.
Investigators want to talk to anyone with information about the mother; they are concerned for her health.
Anyone with information about the baby or her mother is asked to call Seymour Police at (812) 522-1234.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, police say there are options. Safe Haven Baby Boxes are safe places for anyone to surrender a baby. Once you open the box from the exterior wall of Fire Station 3 in Meadowbrook Drive, an alarm goes off.
"Once the baby is put in the box it could only be open from the inside," Foster said.
Once the baby is in, a second alarm goes off and a 911 call goes out, alerting officials.
"If you want to leave a baby here it's anonymous, there are no questions asked," Seymour Fire Chief Brad Lucas said. "Unfortunately, [the safe haven baby box] wasn't used yesterday, but fortunately there was a good result with the baby that was found."
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