Newborn left at doorstep with heartbreaking note: 'His dad tried to kill us'
A 1-day-old infant was found outside a Florida building with a heartbreaking note from the mother saying the dad is a “dangerous man” who tried to kill them.
The baby boy was found on Saturday morning at Willow Key Apartments, located in Orlando, Fla. According to Orlando Police Department, the infant was “wrapped in a t-shirt and appeared to be in good health.” Officers took the baby to Arnold Palmer Hospital.
WESH 2 News reports that a resident, Graciela Izaguirre, heard the 1-day-old crying outside her door while she was having breakfast with her son.
“I just open the door and go outside, and I honestly thought it was a joke, for like the first two seconds, because I saw a baby on the floor,” Izaguirre told the outlet. “He was wrapped up in a T-shirt, like a polo shirt, and he was just on the floor crying. Nobody was around.”
The 1-day-old was left with a heartbreaking note, apologizing for leaving the child and explaining her situation.
"I had him in the bathroom," the note reads, according to WESH 2 News. "His dad tried to kill us. Please keep him secret and take him to hospital. Dad a very dangerous man. I'm so sorry, I tried to clean him and feed him as much as I [could]."
A neighbor, Clive Petgrave, told the Orlando Sentinel he woke up to the police knocking on his door, telling him about the infant found at his doorstep and asking if Petgrave had seen anyone who was pregnant.
“I was surprised, because, you know, something happened right at my door,” Petgrave told the Sentinel.
This isn’t the first time a baby has been left at Willow Key Apartments. According to the Orlando Sentinel, a baby girl was abandoned at the same complex in 2017, also with a note, “urging whoever found her to take her to a fire station under Florida’s Safe Haven Law.”
The Orlando Police Department tells Yahoo Lifestyle: “An unwanted newborn baby should be taken to a hospital or a fire station. There are no criminal repercussions if handled in this manner. This can be done until the baby is 7 days old.”
It is unclear whether police are treating this as a domestic violence case, but the department tells Yahoo Lifestyle that relevant authorities are investigating further.
“Our Criminal Investigations Division is looking into the matter and the Florida Department of Children and Families was notified.”
Izaguirre, representatives from Willow Key Apartments, and the Florida Department of Children and Families did not immediately respond to Yahoo Lifestyle’s requests for comment.
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