An Indianapolis man was horrified to discover two babies abandoned in a ditch when he went outside to collect a package.
Robert Deane had only ventured a few feet from his front door to see if his parcel had been delivered, but as he was looking around, noticed the two baby girls in their car seats.
The babies, a four-month-old and a five-month-old, had been reported missing around 11am when the 2013 Hyundai Sonata they were in the backseat off was stolen.
Deane quickly brought the missing infants inside of his home and called the police.
‘One of them was screaming, so I immediately grabbed the car seats, brought them inside. We got them warmed up and called 911,’ he told CBS4.
It was 27 degrees outside when he found them.
Deane told USA Today: ‘I’d do it again. If you see something, like a baby in a ditch, say something, do something.’
The stolen car was found in the area near the children around the same time Deane alerted police about the babies’ whereabouts.
A four-month-old and a five-month-old were found in a ditch outside of Robert Deane’s home on Monday morning
The babies were found in a ditch about four miles away from where the car was stolen
‘It’s cold out here,’ Indianapolis police spokesman William Young said to USA Today. ‘Who knows what could have happened if this particular individual was not able to come outside.’
He went on to praise Deane for saving the babies from the frigid weather.
Young said: ‘He did what any good person would do. He got those infants to shelter. This is an outcome that we wanted.
‘I can’t thank that good Samaritan enough.’
The little girls, who family members said are cousins, were unharmed. Deane, whose birthday was Monday, said that was the best gift he could have asked for.
Police are still looking for the person who stole the car from East Gimber Street and left the little girls in the ditch about four miles away on the 1300 block of Riley Avenue.
‘We don’t have a suspect in custody, but that will be our next priority is figuring out who is responsible for this particular incident,’ Young said.
A similar carjacking occurred in July when a Florida man stole an SUV and dumped the three-year-old girl inside of it on the side of a busy road.
The 2013 Hyundai Sonata was reported stolen with the babies at around 11am on Monday
Police said Willio Petioma, 35, was arrested after an anonymous tip to the Broward Sheriff’s Office and caught on camera removing the child from the car.
He stole the car when the girl’s mother got out to exchange details with another driver after a minor car accident in Fort Lauderdale.
In another July incident, an Ohio mother died trying to save her son as a thief stole her car with him in the backseat.
Alexa Stakely, 29, threw herself onto the hood of the vehicle as the car sped away before falling off, leaving her with fatal head injuries.
She was trying to protect her six-year-old son, who was asleep in the backseat.
Stakley later died from her injuries.
