Florida woman describes finding abandoned newborn on her doorstep: 'The baby was so cold'

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Florida woman who found a newborn on the doorstep of her Orange County apartment is describing the moment she saw him.

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Aireal Piner said she found the baby around 1 p.m. Saturday at the Bella Vista place Apartments off Silverstar Road near Hiawassee.

"The baby was so cold, just shivering," Piner said. "Like, I just wanted to hold that baby so tight."

Piner said the baby was found naked and lying in a shoebox.

“That baby was so tiny. Maybe just this long. Just shivering in that shoebox," Piner said. “No clothes on. No shoes. Naked.”

At the foot of Piner's front door lay a one-day-old baby. He was crying for help.

“I'm like, ‘What is that noise?’ I hear the officer knock on the door. He's like, ‘Does this baby belong to you?’ I'm like, ‘No,'” Piner said.

One of her neighbors called 911, after she came outside her home when she heard the crying, looked across the hall and saw a little foot poke out of the box.

“I was very emotional. I didn't know what to do,” Piner said. “I don't even know why. Why my doors out of all the doors?”

There was a note in the shoebox asking if someone could take care of the baby, but Piner said she couldn't read the entire note.

Deputies told her she wasn’t allowed to touch anything because it’s all evidence that will hopefully lead investigators to the baby's parents.

“I want them caught. That's just heartbreaking,” she said.

The baby is in good condition; he was transported to AdventHealth South Orange for further evaluation, firefighters said.

No arrests have been made in the case.

Officials said under Florida's Safe Haven Law, anyone can bring an unwanted newborn to any hospital or fire station with no questions asked and without facing criminal charges.

Cox Media Group