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Relief as Fla. infant missing for 5 days is found alive, hidden in box under bed
Friday, November 06, 2009 | No comments posted.
CHIPLEY, Fla. (AP) — Sheriff Bobby Haddock knew time was running out for a 7-month-old girl missing in the Florida Panhandle.
For five days, searchers had scoured the dense vines and marshes around the baby’s rural home, knowing that every hour a child is missing, the chances of finding them alive decreases. But Shannon Lea Dedrick was finally discovered — lying quietly in a 2-foot by 3-foot cedar box that had been shoved under her baby sitter’s bed.
Haddock held the baby in front of flashing cameras and a cheering local audience, proudly displaying a discovery that defied statistics that show only a 30 percent chance of bringing a child home safe if they’ve been missing for more than three hours.
“We are the proud papas of a little girl,” the beaming sheriff announced, his deputies standing behind him.
Later Thursday, the Sheriff choked up as he explained how investigators found the infant after days of searching. Clothing was packed around the box to muffle any sounds and baking soda placed inside to mask the stench of dirty diapers. She had been alone in the box for 12 hours as investigators interviewed the baby sitter.
For five days, searchers had scoured the dense vines and marshes around the baby’s rural home, knowing that every hour a child is missing, the chances of finding them alive decreases. But Shannon Lea Dedrick was finally discovered — lying quietly in a 2-foot by 3-foot cedar box that had been shoved under her baby sitter’s bed.
Haddock held the baby in front of flashing cameras and a cheering local audience, proudly displaying a discovery that defied statistics that show only a 30 percent chance of bringing a child home safe if they’ve been missing for more than three hours.
“We are the proud papas of a little girl,” the beaming sheriff announced, his deputies standing behind him.
Later Thursday, the Sheriff choked up as he explained how investigators found the infant after days of searching. Clothing was packed around the box to muffle any sounds and baking soda placed inside to mask the stench of dirty diapers. She had been alone in the box for 12 hours as investigators interviewed the baby sitter.
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