CHIPLEY, Fla., Nov. 5, 2009
Cops Find Missing Baby Under Sitter's Bed
7-Month-Old Found Alive, Hidden in Box after 5 Days; Sitter, Husband and Her Mother Face Charges
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Play CBS Video Video Sitter Hid Baby in a Box The search for a missing Fla. baby had a happy ending when the infant was found alive and in a box under her babysitter's bed. Michelle Gielan reports.
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This undated photo provided by the Washington County Sheriff's Office shows Shannon Dedrick. The 7-month-old infant has gone missing from her home in Chipley, Fla. (AP/Washington County Sheriff)
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Interactive Out Of Sight: Missing Kids Get the facts on kidnappings, learn predator profiles and check out resources for locating missing children.
Florida authorities have found a missing baby alive under her baby sitter's bed and say they're planning to charge the baby sitter, her husband and the child's mother.
Washington County Sheriff Bobby Haddock said early Thursday that investigators found 7-month-old Shannon Dedrick in a box at Susan Elizabeth Baker's home near Chipley, a rural Panhandle town. The child had been missing for five days.
Haddock said deputies are working to charge Baker, James Arthur Baker and Chrystina Lynn Mercer. Haddock wouldn't provide details. He said more information would be released soon.
Her parents reported Shannon missing Saturday afternoon. Haddock said authorities don't believe the father was involved. He said Susan Baker and the father are related.
CBS News correspondent Michelle Gielan reports that, months before the kidnapping, Susan Baker wrote to Florida Governor Charlie Crist claiming that Shannon Dedrick's parents smoked cigarettes and drugs with the baby in the same room, even saying the baby was being abused.
Child services investigated the claims, but did not intervene, saying there was never any reason to remove the child.
In an added twist, Gielan reports that police say this not the first missing child case involving the Bakers. Their own 3-year-old son Paul went missing 22 years ago. That case is still unsolved.
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- I think that the best thing for this baby would be to never know what she went through. I hope that her life will have some sense of normalcy before she reaches an age where she will remember what is going on in her life. I pray for a better life to come for her!
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- one homely child!
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- Homely? The story is about her abduction and eventual rescue possibly from her sitter, possibly from her mother, and all you have to comment on is how you see the infant's appearance? She has beautiful features that she will grow into one day. She is only 7 months old. You couldn't find anyone smaller to pick on?
- I am certain they took the baby to the doctor to be examined after they found her. The strange shape of her head may be the result of a medical condition.
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- Does anything surprise anyone anymore?! This is one sick planet we live in !!
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- My only question about this incident, now that the child has been safely found, thank God, is: How many sex offenders doors got knocked down in the process of investigating? When Somer Thompson was brutally murdered, they knocked on 191 doors and interogated people because of what they once was. My thoughts on this is, them today, us tomorrow. If we are willing to sacrifice the rights of the sex offender today, then we have set the precedent for our rights to be sacrificed tomorrow and no one will be able to say anything about it. The sex offender registry does not work, never has and the way it is set up, never will. The truly dangerous individuals hide in plain sight, mixed among the consensual sex, one time offenders, sexting, streaking, urinating in public, etc., and not enough assets to keep track of everyone. Sowell and Garriado were both on the registry. Its not the police's fault, but I do put partial blame on the lawmakers who enact legislation and parade it before us like it will stop crime in its tracks, but in fact they just needed a few more votes to find a comfortable chair and some young pages for the next four years. The Justice Policy Institute and the Vera Institute recently released a report that said, "registries do little to protect public safety and may even endanger youth." Yet each legislation session, we have to hear about more sex offender laws enacted, which only cost more money, thus cutting funds to a more needed program, and we get nothing in return, in the form of a drop in crime.
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- Seems you are always complaining about sex offender registries... hmmm. They may not totally solve the problem, but at least the information is out there, as it should be. By having this registry, law enforcement has a ready source when children disappear or are found violated. The answer would be to put them all in prison for life with no chance for parole.
- She is gonna be one mean fiddle player....
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- With a head like that I would have hid it too.
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- No one in their right mind would put a baby/child under the bed. A family mess. This awful. The article saids a child went missing 22 years ago..What happened there. Child abuse. Some should not have children.I feel for little girl. I don't understand that mind set. What they take a child not theirs. I am appalled. I am in my 50s.
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- They are talking about the baby's mother not the babysitter's mother.
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- Bakers's child went missing 22 years ago-Missing, then sold-bet you.
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