Valerie Victom knew local and federal authorities had been searching all night for a missing baby with curly black hair, brown eyes and a green shirt with yellow stripes.
Early Thursday, she came across a man who said he heard a baby crying. She followed his directions to the sound.
The sound led Victom to a wooded area near the 800 block of Gaston Street in southwest Atlanta. A baby was sitting under a tree in a T-shirt and wet diaper.
He reached for Victom like she was his mom.
“I got you, baby,” she screamed.
Victom’s discovery ended a frantic, hours-long search for 11-month-old Durante Cochran, who disappeared from a relative’s home in the 1400 block of Beecher Street at some point Wednesday night. Five adults and five children live in the house, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Durante’s grandmother and 6-year-old brother put him to sleep on the living room couch about 9 p.m. Two hours later, police said the family woke up to the front door open and the baby gone. His bottle was gone, too.
Officers responded to a call from the family about 11 p.m., Atlanta police Capt. Clif Johnson said.
Investigators used police dogs, took several family members to headquarters for questioning and conducted door-to-door checks in their search for the child. The FBI assisted in the search.
At one point, investigators believed the incident may have been a kidnapping and Roshawna Jenkins tearfully pleaded for her nephew’s return.
“Just bring him back,” she said early Thursday. “That’s all we ask.”
Jenkins’ prayer was answered just before 9 a.m.
“I’m still a nervous wreck,” said Victom, the woman who found Durante. “God just put me in places sometimes for a reason.”
Durante was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for a general check, but police said he appeared fine.
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