Michigan Toddler Found Alive in Impounded Car After Days Alone

I have a toddler, so I know how fast they can move.

One minute, they're right next to you. The next, they are halfway into a cabinet you forgot to childproof, or attempting to get into something that requires you to sprint across the room before they succeed. That only takes seconds, so I get it.

What I don’t understand is how a 13 month old ends up alone in a locked car that gets towed away, then sits for days before anyone realizes that a baby is still inside.

Police say the toddler was found alive Saturday in the back seat of a vehicle at Woods Towing and Services in Eastpointe, after the car had originally been parked incorrectly in a driveway in the Detroit Area on Thursday night. The city was contacted by a neighbor on Friday morning, and the vehicle was impounded that afternoon, eventually ending up at a lot in Eastpointe.

When officers located the child, the baby was crying but alive and in stable condition.

So how did no one miss this baby? According to investigators, the child’s mother had gone to the Detroit Police Department 9th Precinct to report the baby missing just hours before the car itself was towed.

A Detroit detective eventually contacted Harper Woods police and learned that the father’s vehicle had been impounded. That connection is what led officers to the lot, where they found the toddler in the rear of the car.

The child’s father is now in custody, and the case has been referred to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office for a charging decision, and sources say that Child Protective Services is now involved.

As a parent, I try to give grace when I can. Parenting is exhausting. It is overwhelming. You can be sleep deprived and stretched thin and still trying your best. I understand how quickly a toddler can slip out of sight in a house or at a par. But a car is different.

And here is the part I keep coming back to: your car gets towed and your child is missing, how are you not immediately putting those two things together? How are you not calling every tow company in the area? How are you not physically going lot to lot, demanding someone unlock that vehicle?

If, somehow, I made a mistake that catastrophic, I would be ripping through every corner of the city until I saw my baby with my own eyes. There would be no waiting or hoping someone else figures it out for me.

This story could have ended in the worst possible way. Instead, a 13 month old was found alive. And this is also a reminder that cars are not a safe pause button for parenting.