ATLANTA -- Shanta Yvette Alexander, abducted five weeks ago from her mother's hospital room when she was a day old, has been found safe and healthy, police say.
Atlanta police Lt. William L. Neikirk said Friday Louise Lett, 26, was arrested on charges of kidnapping the baby from her mother's hospital room. Mrs. Lett also was charged with forging a birth certificate she showed officers.
Shanta was being kept in protective custody in a nursery at Grady Hospital, from which she disappeared Aug. 4. The custody was ordered by Superior Court Judge Issac Jennett, who was asked to review the case by Atlanta police.
Hospital officials said the baby was in excellent health.
Sandra Alexander, who told authorities she left her bed to go to a bathroom down the hall and returned to find the baby missing Aug. 4, told a news conference Friday, 'I'm excited and just glad that my baby is safe.'
Although the judge indicated the baby would be kept in protective custody until legal questions surrounding the infant's parent's were resolved, Neikirk said footprint analysis by the State Crime Laboratory confirmed the child was the Alexander baby.
Neikirk said Mrs. Lett insisted the baby was hers, and is 'maintaining her innocence.' Her husband, Niekirk said, told officers he thought his wife had given birth to the baby.
Neikirk would not, however, disclose whether Mrs. Lett had been pregnant recenty nor why her husband would think the baby was hers.
Neikirk said a suburban Gwinnett County police captain had passed on to Atlanta investigators this week information that led to discovery of the child.
