Woman shocked to find newborn with umbilical cord still attached in backyard


Police are looking for the mother of a baby abandoned in a family's backyard.

Rosanne McCulloch was shocked to find the baby girl sitting on top of an irrigation box outside of her home. Police say she was in a carrier.

"I touched her and she moved and I said, 'She's alive!'" McCulloch told KNXV.

Police received a 911 call about the baby around 11 a.m. Tuesday.

"Baby Jane" was found with her umbilical cord still attached.

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"She was a big baby. She was gorgeous," said McCulloch. "And whoever left her had already taken off the mucus, the membrane, off of her."

"I feel so bad for them because they must be in a situation where they felt they couldn't continue to keep caring for the baby."

Paramedics said the baby was carried full-term.

She is believed to be either Hispanic or Native American, according to the Mesa Police Department. She has black hair and weighs between 7 and 8 pounds.

"We drove up and down our street yesterday, and we said, 'They could've left her at any one of these houses, but they left her at ours,'" McCulloch said.

"I think they did it in a moment of desperation, but I think they thought about it."

Arizona has a Safe Haven law, which allows those who feel unable to care for a child 72 hours old or younger to leave the child at a Safe Haven provider, such as a hospital, fire department, or church, among other places.

The Mesa Police Department is asking anyone with information to contact them.