Missing Texas infant found

LUBBOCK, Texas – A newborn kidnapped from a Lubbock hospital by a woman wearing hospital scrubs was found safe Sunday about 100 miles away in New Mexico, and police had a suspect under arrest.

Four-day-old Mychael Darthard-Dawodu was found in a home in Clovis, N.M., by police following up on tips, a day after she was taken from Covenant Lakeside Hospital. She was later reunited with her parents.

Rayshaun Parson, 21, of Clovis, was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and jailed in Curry County, N.M., where she had been interviewed by Lubbock and FBI investigators, authorities said. Federal charges also could be pursued, Lubbock police Lt. Scott Hudgens said.

Before being flown back to Texas and her parents, Caisha Darthard and Michael A. Dawodu, Mychael was checked at Plains Regional Medical Center in Clovis and found to be in good condition, Clovis police Lt. James Schoeffel said. She had earlier been reported to be suffering from jaundice, a common complication in newborns in which a buildup of pigment in the blood causes a yellowing of the skin.

“We’re ecstatic to be able to locate the child still in good health and to be able to reunite her with her mother,” Hudgens said.

The infant was kidnapped early Saturday by a woman posing as a medical worker who walked out of Covenant Lakeside with the 5-pound baby hidden in her purse, police said.

Law enforcement officials had received information from more than one source that the baby was in Clovis, about 100 miles northwest of Lubbock, said FBI spokeswoman Lori Bailey in Dallas.

Police in Clovis conducted surveillance on an area pinpointed by at least one of the tips and found the baby in a home with an adult female early Sunday, Hudgens said. The suspect was found at another residence in Clovis, he said.

An extradition hearing was scheduled for today in Clovis. Phone numbers at Parson’s address had been disconnected Sunday.