The abducted 1-month-old child Morgan Hill Police issued an
Amber Alert for has been found as of 5:24 p.m. today according to
radio dispatch.
Infant Morgan Hill resident Mariana Corona was found in “healthy” condition less than four hours after a statewide Amber Alert broadcast her abduction Tuesday, police said.
The child was found south of Morgan Hill, though police did not want to release the exact location of the scene which is still under investigation, Chief David Swing said.
The 1-month-old child was transported to a hospital near where she was found to be checked out, but she appeared to be healthy when police found her, Swing said.
The child’s relatives said she was found in the Salinas area.
Corona was found when someone responded to the Amber Alert issued by Morgan Hill police shortly after her mother reported abduction in an apparent car theft, Swing said.
The alert notified residents and motorists to be on the lookout for the white Infiniti Q45 sedan in which Corona was last seen.
The incident happened about 2 p.m. Maribel Corona, 24, drove to the food bank at St. Catherine Parish to pick up groceries, Capt. Joe Sampson said. The child’s mother went inside and left the car parked with the keys and child in the vehicle.
The child’s mother was inside the food bank and away from the car for about five minutes.
Police called the incident a “crime of opportunity,” and do not think the car thief or thieves knew the child or her family, or intended any foul play toward the girl, Sampson said.
Police have not yet offered any details about the circumstances surrounding Corona’s retrieval, including whether or not a suspect was arrested when the child was found.
Corona’s parents, plus more than a dozen of the child’s aunts, uncles, cousins and other relatives gathered at City Hall, the designated incident command center, to wait for news and comfort each other.
After hearing the news that Corona had been found and was safe, her relatives began shedding tears of joy rather than fright. They said they were “relieved” that the infant was found. The family lives in Morgan Hill, near Ciolino Avenue.
“We drove to Hollister to look for her” earlier in the afternoon, Corona’s cousin Gaby Cortez, 16, said outside city hall about 5:30 p.m.
St. Catherine parishioners at the church Tuesday said they have heard of vehicles being vandalized and broken into in the parking lot, even during worship service.
Lupe Rodriguez, 72, receives food from the food bank outside of which Mariana Corona is thought to have been abducted. He said he has never had any problems there, but has noticed homeless people and other food bank clients “hanging out” there.
“People are crazy nowadays. A poor woman coming to get some help for her kids and something happens … ” Rodriguez said.
View Amber Alert issued in a larger map
