10-07-2025
Heroic Chicago man saves 7-month-old girl abandoned after car-jacking
A heroic Chicago man rescued a 7-month-old girl abandoned after a carjacking in the sweltering heat— then tracked down the baby's relatives using social media, authorities said Thursday.
Earl Abernathy, 33, was stuck in traffic on July 3 when he heard the infant crying and spotted her alone on the steps of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in the city's Little Italy neighborhood.
'I saw the baby like, trying to wiggle [her] way out of the car seat and it tipped over,' Abernathy told 'So, I just threw the hazards on, jumped out, ran over there [and] got the baby!'
4 Earl Abernathy, 33, sprang to action to save the baby.
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The little girl had been in the backseat of a vehicle stolen from a nearby gas station earlier that day — then ditched by a carjacker in 92-degree heat, the Chicago Sun Times reported.
Abernathy called police and went on Facebook Live to track down the baby's family, and quickly got messages from people who recognized her.
'It was crazy,' Abernathy said. 'Within minutes, the grandma had inboxed me like, 'That's my grandbaby!' And then the auntie inboxed like, 'That's my niece!''
4 Jeremy Ochoa, 38, was arrested for the carjacking, police said.
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The infant, who was not identified, was taken to the hospital for a check-up and then reunited with her family.
4 The baby was abandoned on the steps of a Chicago Church.
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'We were all out of our minds,' the baby's grateful grandma, Karen Whittington, told the Sun-Times.
'Everyone is OK, and we [are] glad she's found.'
4 Abernathy spotted the baby outside St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.
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Jeremy Ochoa, 38, was ultimately arrested for the carjacking and charged kidnapping and vehicular hijacking, according to Chicago cops.
