Amber Alert for newborn believed to need medical aid; mom vanishes with baby
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MILL CREEK, Wash. -- An Amber Alert was issued Friday night for a newborn believed to need medical treatment, but whose mother vanished with the baby without seeking aid, police said.
The baby, Annabelle Martini, was born Friday in an apartment in the 1100 block of Mill Creek Boulevard in the city of Mill Creek, which is about 20 miles north-northeast of downtown Seattle.
The mother, Jamie Martini, 20, gave birth to the baby girl Friday morning. (Recent photo, released by Mill Creek Police Dept.)
The infant was having a difficult time breathing, police said, but instead of taking the sick baby to the hospital, the mother disappeared with the newborn.
Jamie Martini, 20, gave birth to Annabelle around 6:30 a.m. Friday at the The Mill Apartments with the help of a midwife, police said.
“The midwife had information that the baby was having a hard time breathing, had gray skin and not alert,” said Mill Creek Police Department spokesman Ian Durkee.
The midwife called for an ambulance, but that alert was canceled because Martini said she would rush the baby to the hospital with the help of family members.
“They never arrived at any hospital that we could confirm, and the midwife who followed could not locate them,” Durkee said.
Police said the search for Martini is especially difficult because she is homeless. They say she was just temporarily staying at the apartment in Mill Creek. Neighbors say they are shocked that a mom could put her own baby with life-threatening conditions in even more danger.
“That makes no sense. What is she trying to hide?” local resident Brian O’Neil said.
As far as the police are concerned, the disappearance is now a criminal matter.
“It boils down to a neglect of a child. There is a criminal aspect here, that is why we are involved,” Durkee said
Police released information on two cars that the mother could be using: a 1993 dark green Lexus SC400 with a WA license plate 871WJF; and a 2001 white BMW 330CI with a WA license plate AJD7417.
Martini had not been in contact with family members all day, police said.
Police ask that if you see Martini or either of the two cars mentioned, call 911.