Parrish Police Department
AL.comreportedthat the father had run into a friend’s house and when he returned a minute later, the car was gone. The ALEA then released an Amber Alert for Harlow roughly three hours later.
However, after the child was found inside the car Tuesday morning just across the street from the house, police now say they believe there was no car thief and no kidnapping, according toAL.com.
Instead, the father is believed to have not put the vehicle completely in park and it rolled backwards, into a dense area of kudzu across the street.
“Daylight was our friend on this one,’’ Parrish police Chief Danny Woodard said, according to the outlet.
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Harlow is being taken to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham as a precautionary measure, the child’s aunt Melinda Hutchison told localWBRC. She added that the family is “feeling ecstatic” after the frantic overnight search.
“She’s been found and we couldn’t be any happier,” she said. “Have to give God all the glory.”
Family members were seen hugging and crying after learning the news Tuesday morning, according to localABC 33/40.
Local, state, and federal authorities had fanned out across Walker County in search for the child, Woodard had said in an earlier news conference. He told AL.com on Tuesday morning that officials had searched the area where Harlow was ultimately found four times.
An investigation into how the car ended up in the kudzu is ongoing, Woodard told the outlet. Police are still investigating whether the father didn’t completely put the car in park, or whether someone else rolled the car down into the embankment across the street.
“We’re just not sure yet,’’ the police chief said.
The child had been strapped into her car seat in the back at the time, her mother Bethany Smith said in a plea for help on Facebook overnight. At the time, it was believed the child had been kidnapped.
Mayor Jared Bubba Cagle had urged those with information to “please come forward" and the family had also offered a $5,000 reward.
source: people.com
