Just A Car Guy: 24 years ago, a South Bend, Indiana, officer was dispatched to an apartment building common hallway to rescue an abandoned baby in a box.

Sunday, April 28, 2024

24 years ago, a South Bend, Indiana, officer was dispatched to an apartment building common hallway to rescue an abandoned baby in a box.

On Dec. 22, 2000, a newborn was found abandoned in a common hallway. For Gene Eyster, the case of the "Baby Boy Doe," swaddled in cardboard and blankets, didn't end after the child got to the hospital.

"I went back with a teddy bear," Eyster said. "Just a symbol to let everyone that walked past know that he was cared about."

For more than two decades, Eyster wondered what became of that boy.

Until just a few weeks ago, when Eyster got a phone call from a fellow officer, who asked Eyster if remembered the case of the baby left in the carboard box.

"And he (the officer) said, 'he's (the baby) sitting next to me, he's my rookie,'" Eyster recounted.

The rookie in question was Matthew Hegedus-Stewart, the baby in the box. After his rescue, he was placed for adoption. He always knew he had been left in a box, but only connected the dots to Eyster after joining the department.

Today, Hegedus-Stewart wears the same uniform Eyster did and patrols the same neighborhood.