A newborn Texas baby is safe after being abandoned on a sidewalk covered in ants.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office says that the baby was less than an hour old when she was located covered in ants and with her umbilical cord still attached on Thursday morning.
Authorities were called about the child at the Bridges of Cypress Creek apartment complex in Houston, Texas.
Deputies say a man living at the apartment found the newborn before going to work.
“I looked down. I said, ‘Oh, man, there is a baby right here,'” said Albert Peterson, who found the girl. “The baby was brand new.”
The muffled little cries of the child got Peterson’s attention.
“I picked the baby up, and the baby had mucus and blood and all kinds of stuff all over her body,” Peterson said. “When I seen her, I seen ants and stuff all over. So I picked her up.”
Peterson took the baby to his apartment, cleaned her and placed her in a blanket while his wife called 911.
Peterson says that it was not hard for detectives to find the mother.
“She walked all the way around that corner bleeding,” Peterson said as he pointed. “You see her footprints on the ground.”
Detectives say that the 21-year-old mother is now in custody and undergoing psychological and medical evaluations and that a man from her apartment was also taken into custody.
The baby had reportedly been carried to term and is healthy.
“Without this neighbor, we could be looking at probably a whole different scene,” said HCSO Deputy Thomas Gilliland. “It would be more of a homicide.”
There is no update on any charges the detained couple may face.