Police Find No Signs of Abandoned Boy's Parents

Police Find No Signs of Abandoned Boy's Parents


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News Specialist Stacey Butler reportingA 3-year-old boy's identity remains a mystery.

Tonight police continue their frustrated search for any sign of who his parents may be.

Three-year-old Jacob knows his first name, the names of his sisters and mother, and even his grandfather. But he does not know enough to lead police to his parents.

And now for the first time the security guard who found him shares his story.

When security guard Josh Newell learned that a 3-year-old boy was left by himself in the ShopKo toy department, he asked the boy who his parents were and paged for them.

"All the names he gave us we attempted to page, (with) no response," Newell says.

Then Josh rewound the surveillance video and noticed a man walk in with the 3-year-old boy, but minutes later he walked out alone.

"Which made it look very blatant that he came in here for one reason alone," Newell says. "It's just unbelievable. I've never experienced anything like this," he says.

As soon as the man stepped here, out of the view of security cameras, he walked out of the building and just disappeared.

"Our biggest challenge right now is finding who he belongs to," says Salt Lake City Detective Dwayne Baird. "We're all surprised that someone hasn't recognized this little boy."

"My heart just breaks for that baby. How else can you feel?" says resident Sue Hammack.

Now police nationwide are looking for family or friends who may know who he is.

"This is a smart little boy. He talks very well, but he doesn't have all the information. He has not been taught what his last name is, what his address is," Baird says.

"It's an older child. You had time to bond with the child, and you know the child's habits and you know that child and for someone to be able to just leave the little boy...I think it's incredibly sad," says Salt Lake City resident Maria Gets.

"We're just hoping someone recognizes him. It could be that he isn't from the Salt Lake area. We don't know the answers to that," says Carol Sisco with the Division of Child and Family Services.

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