TX TX - Loretta Norwood, abandoned Baby Boy, 6 - 12 months, on doorstep of paternal grandparents, 8400 block Winthrop Ln, Houston, 21 Mar 2024

[x_files]

If police can't find her, how do we know she isn't in danger herself?

THANK YOU!
I think there's more to this story. I want to keep an open mind before crucifying her.
If the guy is abusive she may have made the best most merciful decision for this child.

 

[modesty blaise]

I hope mom is ok as well.
She did not abandon a baby with his paternal relatives to go into hiding potentially for a few yrs.

 

[dulcinea]

"...Norwood posted bail on a robbery charge in Fort Bend County."

$5K reward to find Houston-area mother accused of abandoning baby boy on relative’s doorstep

The woman reportedly dropped her baby off on the doorstep of his paternal grandmother’s house and walked away, telling the infant’s father, “Your son outside, tell your mom to get him. Don’t leave your son outside.”

www.click2houston.com

She shows up after midnight, crying, with a man, leaves the baby. She had posted bail on a robbery charge just recently. She is being looked for for a month. Is there something else going here besides just straight up abandonment? The timing of the robbery charge and a man she is crying to has me concerned.

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

Until they talk to her, how would we know?

" You also hear the woman crying and talking to a man in a white sedan."
sounds like this wasn't an easy decision or was forced to do this by the guy in the white sedan.

But that doesn't equal mental illness, which is what I'm objecting to. Being emotional is not mental illness.

 

[SMK777]

Until they talk to her, how would we know?

" You also hear the woman crying and talking to a man in a white sedan."
sounds like this wasn't an easy decision or was forced to do this by the guy in the white sedan.

So I hope he’s made to bear his share of the responsibility.

 

[SMK777]

But that doesn't equal mental illness, which is what I'm objecting to. Being emotional is not mental illness.

It could be a mental health crisis of extreme situational stress — not necessarily a psychiatric disorder.

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

It could be a mental health crisis of extreme situational stress — not necessarily a psychiatric disorder.

Sure, she could be having an emotional crisis. But that's not a mental illness. Everyone is vulnerable to emotional crises, especially with life changes, such as losing a job or going through divorce or death of a loved one. It's not the same as a mental illness so I think we have to just be careful about labeling it that.

 

[x_files]

I hope mom is ok as well.
She did not abandon a baby with his paternal relatives to go into hiding potentially for a few yrs.

It raises red flags...either had a mental breakdown. or is with an abusive man or worse?

 

[x_files]

Sure, she could be having an emotional crisis. But that's not a mental illness. Everyone is vulnerable to emotional crises, especially with life changes, such as losing a job or going through divorce or death of a loved one. It's not the same as a mental illness so I think we have to just be careful about labeling it that.

without someone talking to her we won't know.
She's still missing. That is worrisome. Either afraid of being arrested or a man she was riding with won't allow her to call the police.

 

[x_files]

So I hope he’s made to bear his share of the responsibility.

You'd think the LE would want to speak to him as well?

 

[iamshadow21]

without someone talking to her we won't know.
She's still missing. That is worrisome. Either afraid of being arrested or a man she was riding with won't allow her to call the police.

I know they're looking for her, and this thread has been primarily around the probability of her taking off and abdicating responsibility for her child, either willingly or unwillingly, but is there proof of life? I hate to have to ask, but it wouldn't be the first time a baby is left and the parent has turned up dead. Baby Holly comes to mind.

MOO

 

[Synergizer Bunny]

I’m sorry, if this is abandonment, why was the father not charged with the same before now? It’s his child too.

He probably refused to take a DNA test. Just my guess. The charges should be dropped. Maybe, she will be ordered to parenting classes and directed to resources that can help her raise her child. A court should order the suspected father to take a DNA test and then ordered to pay child support.

JMO.

 

[LauraAnne]

He probably refused to take a DNA test. Just my guess. The charges should be dropped. Maybe, she will be ordered to parenting classes and directed to resources that can help her raise her child. A court should order the suspected father to take a DNA test and then ordered to pay child support.

JMO.

In Texas, if a potential father refuses to take a DNA test, he can be "defaulted", and found by the court to be the father with no DNA test.

 

[OddOneOut]

I can't help but wonder if she was abducted with the child and convinced her abductor to let her drop off the child to get him out of harms way?

Also, it sounds to me like she didn't tell the father about the child. He can't be held liable for abandoning the child if he didn't know the child existed.

 

[JDG]

I can't help but wonder if she was abducted with the child and convinced her abductor to let her drop off the child to get him out of harms way?

Also, it sounds to me like she didn't tell the father about the child. He can't be held liable for abandoning the child if he didn't know the child existed.

His family knew the child well enough to identify him to the police.

They also knew the mother.

The father told LE he wasn’t ‘sure’ if he was the father.

So, he also is very well acquainted with the mother.

 

[otto]

This seems to be the relevant law (below). The child was left at the grandparent's house at midnight. The father was notified 40 minutes later. At 6:30 a.m., the grandparents saw the baby at the front door and called police. They knew who the baby and mother were before calling police.

Personally, I think police should drop the charges, stop hunting this woman as though she is a criminal, and provide social supports to solve the parenting problem.

"(1) "Abandon" means to leave in any place without providing reasonable and necessary care a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual under circumstances under which no reasonable, similarly situated person would leave a child or individual of that age and ability.

(b) A person commits an offense if the person, having custody, care, or control of a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual , intentionally abandons the child or individual in any place under circumstances that expose the child or individual to an unreasonable risk of harm.

Section 22.041 - Abandoning Or Endangering A Child, Elderly Individual, Or Disabled Individual, Tex. Pen. Code § 22.041 | Casetext Search + Citator

Read Section 22.041 - Abandoning Or Endangering A Child, Elderly Individual, Or Disabled Individual, Tex. Pen. Code § 22.041, see flags on bad law, and search Casetext’s comprehensive legal database

casetext.com

 

[OddOneOut]

His family knew the child well enough to identify him to the police.

They also knew the mother.

The father told LE he wasn’t ‘sure’ if he was the father.

So, he also is very well acquainted with the mother.

I got the impression from the articles that the grandparents did NOT recognize the baby. They called the police and the child was put in a foster home and identified by DNA.

 

[JDG]

I got the impression from the articles that the grandparents did NOT recognize the baby. They called the police and the child was put in a foster home and identified by DNA.

It’s in the article.

 

[Mimimom]

His family knew the child well enough to identify him to the police.

They also knew the mother.

The father told LE he wasn’t ‘sure’ if he was the father.

So, he also is very well acquainted with the mother.

And none of them have the child now.

 

[I am not Sherlock H.]

You got that right!

‘Your son outside’: Warrant issued for woman who left her baby on his father’s family’s doorstep for hours overnight

The baby was left outside his paternal grandmother's porch gate alone for approximately 6 hours before she woke up, went outside, and noticed him.

www.click2houston.com

HOUSTON – Houston police are searching for a 24-year-old Harris County woman who they say abandoned her infant son on the doorstep of a home last week, and never returned to get him.

Court documents show that the suspect, Loretta Norwood, is being charged with one felony count of abandoning a child.

*****
Court documents show that the baby’s father, Ismael ‘Halo’ Hailey, told authorities that he had received a text message at 12:50 a.m. March 21 saying, “Your son outside, tell your mom to get him. Don’t leave your son outside. He is there. After the DNA, you can get his papers. Better get your son from out because he there Halo.”

Hailey told authorities that he was unsure if the baby was even his son, and that he did not see the text message sent at 12:50 a.m. until 8 a.m. later that morning.

****
More at link.

A little investigative work on the son’s phone will answer that key question of timing.

Sure hope that police have retrieved it to investigate. MOO