Missing baby Harlow: ‘Stolen’ SUV may have rolled into thick brush, police say

An SUV that was reported stolen with an infant inside in the US state of Alabama may have instead rolled into thick brush where it lay hidden, AL.com reported.

Officers found the SUV in vines on Tuesday morning, roughly 90 metres from where it was reported stolen about 12 hours earlier, Parrish police Chief Danny Woodard told the news site. The girl, 9-month-old Harlow Darby Freeman, was safe in her car seat.

Investigators now say it’s likely the car was not stolen and Harlow was not kidnapped. Instead, the SUV may have rolled down an embankment when her father failed to put it in park, Woodard said. He said police were still investigating and planned to conduct more interviews.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency originally issued an Amber Alert in the case, believing that baby Harlow could be in extreme danger.

Harlow Darby Freeman was initially believed kidnapped.

“This is not something that happens in a small town like Parrish,” he said. “This is a strange turn of events.”

Multiple searches of the area did not turn up the vehicle until the next morning.

“Daylight was our friend on this one,” Woodard said of his officers’ discovery of the vehicle the morning after it was reported stolen.

Parrish is about 64km northwest of Birmingham. Dozens of officers began searching for Harlow late Monday after her family reported the SUV stolen outside a house. The girl’s father left her in the vehicle while he ran into a friend’s house, police said.

Police said they remained open to the idea that somebody else could have shifted the vehicle.

“We’re just not sure yet,” Woodard said.

One of the SUV’s windows was broken from an unrelated incident, providing the girl with ventilation overnight, Woodard told AL.com. She was found dehydrated but otherwise in good condition and taken to a local hospital for an assessment.

- Additional reporting, NZ Herald