OGDEN, Utah, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A toddler who answered his mother's cellphone helped police in Ogden, Utah, find her car -- which had been stolen with the boy inside.
Aiden, 3, told his mother the thief was still in the car with him, after she called her own phone on police instructions.
"He was just telling me, 'The guy's going through your purse, he's getting your purse,' and I was like, 'It's OK, stay calm. Just sit in your seat. Everything will be OK.' He just sat in his seat until the guy left, told me the guy left," Elizabeth Barrios told KSL-TV. "And the officer then instructed me to tell him to get into the front seat, lock the doors and start honking the horn until somebody finds him."
An officer who volunteered to help after working an overnight shift heard the horn a short time later. Police said the thief was probably scared off by the phone call.
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Barrios left Aiden in the car with the engine running Tuesday morning while she dropped her younger brother off at a daycare center. When she came out, she saw someone driving away.
Lt. Tim Scott said officers who responded to the daycare center made a "good call." They decided that either Aiden would answer the phone and help them locate him and the car or the thief would and they could negotiate to get the boy back safely.
AIden told police the man said nothing to him. Barrios said a few of her possessions were stolen.
"He left my son, that's all that matters to me," she said.
Daniel Severo, owner of the Little Seed Evolution Childcare Center, said he is not surprised Aiden was able to respond to the emergency and knew how to answer his mother's phone
"We know the child, and he is pretty smart," he said.
Barrios said leaving Aiden in the car while she dropped off her brother had been part of her morning routine. Ogden police received two other calls about cars being stolen after being left unattended with the engine running while they were trying to locate Aiden.
