A judge found cause on Friday to place the newborn abandoned the day before in Pompano Beach in the custody of the state.
Judge Elizabeth Scherer made the decision at a shelter hearing in Fort Lauderdale about the baby boy who was found outside wrapped in a blanket in an empty parking lot at 200 NE 2nd St.
Nicole Carter recounted the moment she was notified about the abandoned newborn, which was found in a church parking lot across from her daycare center.
"She flagged down my driver,” Carter said, referring to her employee Jacqueline Saxon, “and the driver called me to let me know that they think they found a baby over there."
The newborn – then not more than three days old and in good health – was found in a blanket right next to a hedge Thursday afternoon.
But whom he belonged to remains a mystery.
Could surveillance video recorded from the lot of the First Baptist Church provide clues? Ministry assistant Julie Branch scrolled through video all day Friday to see if there was anything she could provide to detectives investigating the case.
One camera recorded a vehicle driving on Northeast 2nd Avenue that may be central to the case. At about 4:11 p.m., a dark-colored vehicle parked for a few minutes in the same area where the child was left – and then departed.
Ten minutes later, a passerby made the startling discovery, and a small crowd started to gather where the baby was lying asleep in a blanket.
While authorities track down who left the newborn to fend for himself, Carter offered a theory.
"It's probably someone’s young, someone that was scared and didn’t know what to do,” she said.
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Photo Credit: NBC 6 South Florida