Witness describes 2 women who may have abandoned baby in Newton

(Newton-Wellesley Hospital)

Hospital officials released this picture of the newborn's footprint.

By John R. Ellement and Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

Police are asking for the public's help after they received their first description today of the people who may have abandoned a newborn baby Wednesday on the doorstep of a Newton home.

A witness reported seeing two women speeding away in a shiny, dark-green, older-model Volkswagen Jetta at about the time the baby girl was left outside the Moulton Street home. At 11:35 a.m., the witness reported seeing the Jetta parked in front of the house.

The car then drove away at a high rate of speed, and the witness said he saw that the driver was an African-American woman under the age of 30, wearing glasses, with long black hair and red lipstick, police said. The witness said he saw another African-American woman “slumped down” in the passenger seat.

“We’re looking into this as a lead,” said Lieutenant Bruce M. Apotheker of the Newton Police Department. “Anybody with any information about this is urged to contact our department.”

Police said that after the car drove off, 81-year-old John Tuckerman found the baby girl in a tote bag with a blanket and a pillow and a note asking that she be cared for. Officials took the girl to Newton-Wellesley Hospital, where staff reported that she is healthy and thriving.

The girl, who was only a few hours old when Tuckerman found her, has been named Leah by the nurses taking care of her in the hospital’s special care unit, said a hospital spokeswoman, Rachel Kagno.

“They just thought it was a sweet name,’’ said Kagno, who added that emergency room personnel dubbed the girl Matilda when they started caring for her. The girl weighs 6.4 pounds and appears to be of African-American or Hispanic heritage, officials have said.

Would-be parents interested in adopting the girl have swamped the telephone switchboard at the hospital. Callers are being steered to the Department of Children and Families, where spokeswoman Alison Goodwin said the state child protection agency will ask the courts today to grant them temporary legal custody of the infant.

In addition to the callers to the hospital, Goodwin said “a handful’’ of people called a Newton area DCF office, offering to adopt the child. But, she said, the current goal for the child is to first locate her family – mother, father, siblings, or grandparents – before considering adoption.

In the meantime, she said, the child will be placed in a temporary foster home while the DCF, police, and the Middlesex district attorney's office search for the mother and relatives.
Goodwin said those interested in adopting can provide the DCF with contact information.

The agency will also gather contact information for anyone wishing to become a licensed foster home and possibly host the infant girl. The adoption line is 1-800-543-7508.

On his 9/11 call, Tuckerman’s voice is calm but the dispatcher from the Newton Police Department sounds completely stunned to hear this most unusual of 911 calls.

"What's your emergency," the dispatcher asks Tuckerman.

"A child has been left on my doorstep," the 81-year-old Moulton Street resident says.

"Okay," the dispatcher says after a brief pause. "How old is the child?"

"Uh, it fits in a small basket," Tuckerman said.

He tells the dispatcher that he walked out of his home to check the temperature before leaving the house for an errand and he found the baby along with a "little note."

"And what does the note say," asks the dispatcher.

"The note says, 'Please take good care of this child,' " Tuckerman said.

Tuckerman's 911 conversation has been released by Newton police.

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