AURORA — A mother who gave her newborn son to a couple at a bus stop in Aurora is being sought by authorities.
A couple driving at East Colfax Avenue and Yosemite Street spotted the woman in bloody clothing and holding a white sheet early Friday, Aurora police said Wednesday.
The couple stopped and asked the woman whether she needed help. Her speech was incoherent, but she handed them the sheet, which held the little boy.
The couple — who are not from the Denver area — asked the woman if she needed to go to the hospital, but she didn’t respond coherently.
The couple took the baby and drove straight to the emergency room at Children’s Hospital in Aurora.
“The baby landed in good hands and in the hands of a responsible couple who took him to the hospital,” Detective Shannon Lucy said at a news conference Wednesday. “A lot of people would drive by and do nothing. To ask about the baby’s welfare and take the child to the hospital is pretty phenomenal.”
Doctors said the infant had been born only a couple of hours before his mother gave him to the couple and may be a few weeks premature.
The child is well and in the custody of the Adams County Department of Human Services.
“The baby is stable and at Children’s Hospital, where he is getting the best treatment you can get around here,” said Darwin Cox, a human-services spokesman.
Cox declined further comment.
Lucy said that investigators have been unable to establish the identity of either the mother or the baby boy.
The Colorado legislature passed a safe-haven law in 2000 so that a baby 72 hours old or younger can be given to a firefighter or a hospital staff member anonymously with no criminal charges.
Since June 2000, more than two dozen babies have been dropped off at safe havens across the state.
The mother in Aurora did not strictly follow the law, Lucy said, and she could face possible charges of neglect.
Lucy said that the woman willingly gave the child to the good Samaritans.
“She reached out with the sheet. She didn’t say, ‘No, no, no,’ when the couple took the child,” said the detective. “This was a lucky baby who landed in the right hands.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
Description of newborn’s mother
She is described as black, about 40 years old, 5 feet 3 inches tall, and weighing 105 to 120 pounds. She was wearing a dark-colored scarf that hid her hair. The woman is missing some of her top teeth on the right front side and had burn marks or scars on her bottom lip. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Del Matticks at 303-739-6367 or Sgt. Joe Young at 303-739-6382.
