HOUSTON – Houston police are searching for a 24-year-old Harris County woman who they say abandoned her infant son on the doorstep of a home last week, and never returned to get him.
SEE ALSO: Baby abandoned on front doorstep in SE Houston identified, along with family
Recommended Videos
Court documents show that the suspect, Loretta Norwood, is being charged with one felony count of abandoning a child.
According to the documents, a woman named Loretta Sam called police on March 21 and told them that she noticed a car seat outside her porch gate at around 6 a.m.
Sam said there was an 8½-month-old baby boy alone, sitting in a car seat with a backpack nearby.
She brought the baby inside, and police later took him to the emergency room at Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital.
Doctors inside observed the baby and stated that he was in overall good health however he was not exhibiting behavioral milestones of a child his age.
The child was then taken into Child Protective Services custody.
What happened
Court documents show that the baby’s father, Ismael ‘Halo’ Hailey, told authorities that he had received a text message at 12:50 a.m. March 21 saying, “Your son outside, tell your mom to get him. Don’t leave your son outside. He is there. After the DNA, you can get his papers. Better get your son from out because he there Halo.”
SEE ALSO: How does the ‘Baby Moses Law’ work in Texas?
Hailey told authorities that he was unsure if the baby was even his son, and that he did not see the text message sent at 12:50 a.m. until 8 a.m. later that morning.
Several family members were able to identify both Norwood and her son to police. Additionally, those family members said that Norwood had just made bail two weeks prior on a Robbery charge out of Fort Bend County. Officers with the Katy Police Department were able to aid in identifying Norwood from her most recent mugshot.
As the investigation unfolded, authorities obtained video footage of the area showing the time frame and a description of what Hailey said took place.
On the video, a person, believed to be Norwood, was seen walking near Hailey’s mother’s home at 12:10 a.m. with a car seat in hand. The person could be heard crying and exchanging words with a man who they believe drove her to the area in a white, 4-door sedan.
The video continues on to show Norwood placing the infant, strapped in his car seat, near Hailey’s mother’s home before getting in the white car and driving away.
Investigators said that from the video, Norwood left her baby on the ground at about 12:12 a.m. but didn’t send the alarming message to Hailey until 12:50 a.m., 38 minutes later.