Father Feared Infant Had Been Kidnaped Until She Turned Up in Hospital Laundry : New Baby Feared Kidnaped Is Found in Hospital Laundry

The father of a 3-week-old infant being treated for pneumonia said Friday that he feared the girl had been abducted before she was found in a hospital basement under a foot of soiled sheets.

The girl, Hilary Harris, apparently had been gathered up with the dirty laundry and taken to the basement, her father, Fred Harris, said.

Harris, 26, said a hospital housekeeping employee gathered up his 8-pound daughter with the laundry from the pediatric ward Wednesday morning and took her to the basement laundry room. Linen from the unit normally is badly soiled and not checked before washing, he said.

“I don’t see how it could have happened,” he said.

The hospital had no comment.

“The way it looks, nothing criminal was done,” said Cadillac Police Chief Lyle Reddy. “From what little that I’ve been told, it was an accident, a serious accident.”