Baby Found Alive After Spending ‘Several Days Alone’ in Phoenix Apartment Following Their Mother’s Death: Police

At around 10:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday, May 14, the Phoenix Police Department (PPD) received a call from an “observant neighbor” about a mother in their apartment complex in the area of Central Avenue and Illini Street. According to a police news release, they were informed that the mom, who “had recently given birth to a baby,” hadn’t been heard from for “several days.”

When they arrived at the scene, authorities found an “unlocked window,” from which they spotted the woman lying “motionless on the floor.”

The “visibly emaciated” baby was lying in a nearby bed, per the PPD.

“Officers rushed to the front door and forced it open,” Sergeant Brian Bower said in the news release, shared on Friday, June 27. “Officers swiftly rescued the infant and met with Phoenix Fire [personnel] who took the child to the hospital in serious condition.”

The baby is now expected to make a “full recovery” after receiving what police describe as “lifesaving care” from a local hospital.

On Friday, the PPD shared bodycam footage on Facebook of the moment the baby was discovered. Officers can be seen peeking through a window during the welfare check and searching the apartment.

The baby’s here, dude. And the baby’s still alive,” one officer can be heard saying, as police then proceeded to break open the apartment door and locate the child.

The baby was lying in the center of a bed when found and wrapped in a blanket. An officer picked the baby up and carried them out of the apartment where they were handed to emergency personnel after an ambulance arrived.

On Facebook, police reiterated that the child was “expected to survive.”

Bower has praised the actions of the officers who responded “immediately” to the scene. “It’s because of the smart, immediate actions of the officers as well as the neighbors seeing something unusual and calling in for help,” he said, per CBS affiliate KPHO.

It wasn’t learned until well after the fact from doctors and staff at the hospital that if the police officers didn’t immediately provide aide and didn’t immediately go into the apartment, the child may not have survived much longer,” he added.

Detectives have taken over the ongoing investigation while the medical examiner’s office is looking at the cause and manner of death for the mother, according to the PPD news release. The Department of Child Safety is also assisting investigators and the baby’s family.