Kidnaped Baby Found on Church Floor

A newborn kidnaped from her mother’s side last week was left in a church by a woman who asked a priest about having the child baptized, then disappeared.

Seven-week-old Crystal Guerrero was reunited Thursday with her parents, Jose and Maria Guerrero, at Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where doctors said the baby had been well fed and was in excellent condition.

Volunteers at the Queen of Angels Church found the infant, dressed in a yellow snowsuit, on the floor of the church, two miles from the health clinic where she was abducted on Dec. 16.

Hours later, one of the volunteers encountered the woman who talked to the priest and turned her over to police.

Hortencia Hernandez, 28, of Chicago was charged Friday with aggravated kidnaping, said police Sgt. Milton Carson. Maria Guerrero identified her as the woman she talked with before the infant disappeared, he said.

The mother said she had let a stranger hold the infant and both disappeared when she turned away for a moment.

Authorities refused to discuss a motive in the kidnaping. Hernandez has a 6-year-old son, one official said.

Police said a woman carrying the baby approached a priest in the church, who told her she needed an appointment to discuss a baptism. She then disappeared, according to the volunteers, who were hanging Christmas wreaths at the church.

Katherine Fearon, 14, said she found the baby sleeping on the vestibule floor. The teen-ager and her mother, Gail, recognized the child from a newspaper picture.

Later, after Gail Fearon returned to the church, she recognized the suspect, who was sitting in the van of a TV news crew that had come to the church to report on the baby’s recovery.

“I grabbed the woman and took her into the church,” she said. “I thought the police should be talking to her instead of reporters.”

After the child was found, she was taken to the medical center for an examination and a reunion with her parents.

After looking closely at the infant, Maria Guerrero “walked over and turned (Crystal’s) head looking for a pockmark,” said nurse Rose Bosshardt.

“It’s my baby! It’s my baby!” the mother screamed when she found the mark by Crystal’s left ear.

“She recognized me right away,” she said later. “She felt my arms and the warmth of her mother. It was a miracle.”

Applause and cheers erupted as the family returned home.

“All I want is to be alone and to be able to hold the baby,” Maria Guerrero said. “I always had faith that the baby would come back.

“This Christmas will be the very best we’ve ever had.”