An Indianapolis man who went out to pick up some packages stumbled across two baby girls abandoned in a ditch in below-freezing temperatures after their family car was stolen, police said.
Robert Deane had gone out of his house to check if his mail arrived Monday morning when he spotted two car seats tossed in a local ditch, with two infants, 4- and 5-month-olds, crying for help.
“One of them was screaming, so I immediately grabbed the car seats, brought them inside,” he told local CBS 4. “We got them warmed up and called 911.”
Just before Deane made his call, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police (IMPD) were called about four miles away to East Gimber Street about a stolen 2013 Hyundai Sonata where the girls, a pair of cousins, were sitting in the back seat.
Police said they had just begun searching for the car and babies when they received Deane’s call about their whereabouts.
It remains unclear how long the babies were out in the 27-degree weather or why they were alone in the back seat of the car when it was stolen.
Indianapolis police spokesman William Young hailed Deane as a good Samaritan who helped get the girls out of the cold before they were affected by the elements.
“He did what any good person would do, he got those infants to shelter,” Young told the Indianapolis Star.
“This is an outcome that we wanted. I can’t thank that good Samaritan enough,” he added.
The IMPD said they located the stolen car shortly afterwards, with officers seeking the public’s help to identify the suspect or suspects responsible for the kidnapping.
Young noted that this was the second such incident to hit Indianapolis in the past two weeks.
On Nov. 20, a baby boy was kidnapped when a suspect stole a 2014 Chevy Equinox.
The police spokesman warned parents not to leave their children inside a car unattended, even in winter when many leave their cars running alone to warm it up.