Baby found unharmed after thief steals car with her in it

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Baby found unharmed after thief steals car with her in it

By JOE LAMBE and TOM PERRIN - The Kansas City Star
Date: 01/07/01 22:15

The young mother planned to be away from her car "just a short time." That's why she left it unlocked and running.

But when she returned about 11:30 a.m. Sunday, a thief had taken her car -- and with it her 4-month-old daughter she had left inside -- in the 5300 block of Euclid Avenue.

Minutes later just blocks away, Joe Buckner's dogs began barking, prompting him to look out his window.

A man had stopped a car in the 5800 block of Michigan Avenue. He put a baby's car seat on the sidewalk before driving away.

"I could tell something wasn't right," Buckner said.

Buckner wrote down the license plate number then walked across the street to see what was in the car seat. That's when he spotted the little girl wearing a pink hat and jumper. She looked dressed for church.

"She was a very happy baby, a little angel," Buckner said. Kansas City police officers were still with the girl's frantic mother on Euclid when Buckner called 911.

The license plate number matched that of the stolen car, and police took the greatly relieved mother to pick up her daughter.

Her car was still missing Sunday evening, and the thief was at large. Police said the car was a maroon 1985, two-door Plymouth Reliant with Missouri license number 678LWN. There was no description of the thief.

Police Sgt. Randall Day said that the mother planned to be in the house on Euclid for only a short time to pick up her other child.

The situation is similar to a case last year in which the mother of 6-year-old Jake Robel left her keys in the ignition and Jake in the car while she went into a sandwich shop in Independence.

While she was inside a thief jumped into the car and tried to shove Jake out. The boy became entangled in a seat belt and was dragged to his death when the thief drove off.

People leaving their cars running or keys in the ignition with children inside is an old problem for police, Day said. People don't seem to learn from the mistakes of others.

"They think they'll only be gone for a minute," Day said. "It just takes seconds to steal a car."