“Lucky” Jogger Finds Missing 8-Month-Old Along Houston Street

A jogger who followed the sounds of a baby's cries into the brush found a missing 8-month-old Monday morning, hours after the car the baby was in was stolen from a Houston gas station.

Baby Genesis Haley was still strapped into her car seat in a field near the road where Hong Nguyen was out for an early-morning jog.

"I’m a lucky person to find the baby and give her back to her parents in good condition," Nguyen, who is in Houston from Vietnam visiting family, told NBC News.

The baby's mother had told police that she left her daughter asleep in her running car around 1 a.m. Monday while she went into the station to pay for gas. Within seconds, she saw her car being driven away, Houston police said.

Authorities found the vehicle about two hours later, but Genesis and her car seat were gone.

Nguyen told Houston NBC affiliate KPRC she had not known Genesis was missing when she found her and called police. "I thought the baby was abandoned," she said.

She also told NBC News that today was her first time jogging during her five-day stay in Houston, and she considers herself lucky to have found the child.

Officers told NBC News that Genesis was probably left outside for hours but appears to be healthy. After she was found, she was brought to the Texas Children's Hospital, where she was evaluated and returned to her mother.

Houston police are now looking for the man wanted in the baby's disappearance and the car's theft.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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