The mother of a baby girl found abandoned in the back seat of a parked car early Wednesday spoke to NBC 7 San Diego about her child.
“[I’m] concerned about my kids, I want her back,” mother Rachel Fenton (pictured below) said between tears. “I’m such a good mother. I take care of her – everything she had like her bed and everything, I got all of that stuff for her.”
The infant – described by police as three to four months old – was found abandoned in an unlocked car in the parking lot of a strip mall in the Point Loma area.
Just after 5 a.m., San Diego police responded to Ocean Beach Tattoo & Piercing at Rosecrans and Hugo Streets. Six patrol cars arrived to the corner strip mall that houses a tattoo shop, a liquor store and a donut shop.
Initially, officers were told someone was trying to break into the tattoo shop located on the second floor of the building. Police said a man who appeared to be intoxicated allegedly tried to shatter the shop’s window, but never actually made it inside.
At the scene, officers soon discovered the little girl in an infant seat in the back of a silver 1999 Toyota RAV 4. She was transported to the Polinsky Children’s Center.
The car was unlocked and the windows were partially rolled down. The infant was wrapped in a pink blanket, wearing onesie. She had a full diaper, officials said.
When police arrived, the break-in suspect jumped off the roof of the building, possibly landing on the roof of a home behind the building. He then took off on foot, police said.
Now, investigators are looking for that suspect, described as a man wearing with a shiny, blue Padres jacket, some kind of hat and tan, long shorts.
Police set up a perimeter about a block out in each direction but did not locate the suspect.
The vehicle in which the baby was abandoned had a California license plate, #4DYP101. The plate is connected with a San Diego address, officials said. The license plate frame promotes the South Bay Family YMCA.
Several hours after the alleged break-in, officers stopped a woman at Sports Arena Blvd. and Del Rio West. The woman -- now identified as the baby's aunt -- was taken into custody as part of the investigation and later released. Police said she is not a person of interest in this case.
NBC 7 San Diego visited the address connected to the vehicle license plate, but no one answered the door. It is unclear if the person who lives at that address is the suspect involved in the break-in, or if that person is in any way related to the baby girl.
As of 11 a.m., the child remained at the Polinsky Children’s Center. A spokesperson for the center said that in situations like these, if it’s determined there was negligence, the center petitions for a case in juvenile court.
NBC 7 tracked down the infant’s mother, Fenton, Wednesday evening.
The first-time mother said she’s not married to the father of her baby, Hugo Ramirez, but said they had been trying to co-parent, adding, “We are trying hard to take of her.”
Fenton claimed she went to a Point Loma tattoo parlor last night to get a tattoo. She said Ramirez was supposed to send her a text message, but failed to do so.
According to Fenton, she stayed the night at a friend’s house and Ramirez went looking for her at the tattoo parlor Wednesday morning. She believes he likely broke into the shop while looking for her.
Fenton said Ramirez is a good father, and doesn’t know why he’d leave their baby alone in the car.
Now, all she wants is to get her child back.
“I’ve been in the system and in group homes and stuff like that and I can’t believe now my kid is there. I just want to get her back,” she added.
Fenton said she plans to visit her baby girl at the Polinsky Center Thursday.
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