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MAGNA -- It was a terrifying evening for a 3-year-old boy who was inside a car stolen by a thief Friday. It sparked an Amber Alert, which ended in a Magna neighborhood.
It all started at the Fast Track Gas Station at 8588 W. 2700 South. Salt Lake County sheriff's deputies say a mother and a father took their two cars to fill up shortly before 7 p.m. The father was driving with two children, and the mother with her 3-year-old son, Hector Orozco.
While filling up, the father went into the convenient store and the mother stayed with her two children, leaving the boy and her blue Isuzu unattended with the keys in the car. That's when the woman jumped into the car and took off.
"It appears, like with cases like this in the past, where it's people trying to be opportunistic and steal a car, and then they find: 'Wait a minute. There's a child here that I didn't anticipate.' That's happened in the past and the circumstances in this situation seem to be very similar to that," said Lt. Don Hutson, spokesman for the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's office issued an Amber Alert around 8:00, and the boy was found shortly after on Patricia Circle. Deputies say the suspect had abandoned the vehicle, and young Hector got out and went looking for help.
Mike Gardner says he had just been told about the Amber Alert and how a child had been kidnapped from the Chevron down the street. He walked outside and some neighbor children come up to him.
"He has this little kid by the hand and says, 'This little kid is freezing and he says his daddy left him.' I said, 'Well, where did you find him?' Then I look around and I see the Isuzu Rodeo right there and I went running and said, 'That's the kid they're looking for!'" Gardner said.
He continued, "We brought him into the house, wrapped him up in blankets, then called police. He didn't say much other than his dad left him, and he was crying and shivering with the cold."
Gardner says it hit close to home because he is a father too. "I couldn't believe it if my own kid got kidnapped. I don't know what I'd do," he said.
When deputies arrived, they took the boy immediately to his parents. He was reportedly in good condition.
The suspect is still at large. She is described as roughly 19 years old, 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighing about 110 pounds. She has blond hair with black streaks in it and was wearing a gray sweater.
If you have any information on her whereabouts, contact the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office at 801-743-7000.
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Story compiled with contributions from Nicole Gonzales and Mary Richards.
