Get email updates with the day's biggest stories Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice A baby who was buried alive in remote woodland for nine hours was found alive after a 'miracle' rescue operation. The five month old was discovered face down in a soiled baby grow under piles of sticks and debris. Authorities described the discovery of the baby in Missoula County, America, as a "miracle". Police were initially called at 8pm on Saturday to reports of a man was acting suspiciously and making threats with a gun in the Lolo Hot Springs area. As officers arrived at the scene, a 32-year-old called Francis Carlton Crowley had left the area, with reports he had previously been seen with a small baby who had now vanished. (Image: Missoula County Sheriff's Office) Crowley was later tracked down before he admitted burying the baby somewhere in the woods. A desperate search for the infant was immediately launched by police, members of the Missoula County Search and Rescue team, Highway Patrol and the United States Forest Service. After an agonising six hours searching the woods, an officer reported hearing the faint cries of a child before discovering the buried infant at 2.30am. A police statement posted on Facebook said the child had been "in the woods unattended and in the cold for a minimum of nine hours." The child was taken to a local hospital with minor scrapes and bruises, but is said to be in good condition. (Image: Gallo Images) A statement from police added: "For all of us at the Sheriff's office, this is what we call a miracle. "For the officers who were present for this event, it's especially hard knowing what this small baby endured in the last 24 hours. "Sheriff McDermott would like to thank those who assisted in the search and those who called 911, helping first responders bring this baby to safety." Crowley was arrested and is being held at Missoula County Detention Facility. He faces felony charges and is due to make his first court appearance in the next 24 hours.<doc-sep>A FAINT whimper in the darkness was all it took. Missoula County Sheriff’s Deputy Ross Jessop and U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement Officer Nick Scholz rushed towards the sound after hours spent searching the Montana woods for a missing infant. Jessop was about to take another step when he heard a stick crack underfoot. He looked down to find a cold, wet, soiled 5-month-old boy face-down under a pile of debris. “I abandoned any police training or any chance of saving evidence there - I didn’t care,” Jessop, a father of three, told reporters on Tuesday. “I scooped up the baby, made sure he was breathing. He had a sparkle in his eye. (I) warmed him up, gave him a couple of kisses and just held him.” Camera Icon The baby clings on to an officer’s finger in the hospital after surviving nine hours in the forest. The baby, who had been abandoned for at least nine hours before Jessop and Scholz found him at 2:30am Sunday, was cold, hungry and had scrapes and bruises, but was otherwise in good condition. They wrapped him in a coat and carried the boy out of the woods to safety. “It was the happiest 15-20 minutes of my career,” Scholz said of the walk out. “I was just stunned. Walking in to this situation, you were mentally prepared for the worst.” The baby drank a whole bottle of Pedialyte in under a minute, then drank two more, said Missoula County Sheriff’s Capt. Bill Burt. The baby’s tiny, dirty hand grasped Burt’s finger with surprising strength, then he fell soundly asleep as hospital officials hooked him up to an IV, Burt said. The rescue that Sheriff T.J. McDermott called a miracle was recounted moments before Francis Crowley, 32, appeared in court to hear charges against him that included assault on a minor and criminal endangerment. Crowley told investigators he left the boy in the woods after crashing his car because the baby was heavy, according to court records. He appeared in Missoula County Justice Court from jail by video, and he broke down repeatedly as he heard the allegations against him. Crowley doubled over, then fell to the floor and covered his face with his hands, sobbing. He exclaimed twice, “I love that f------ kid,” and implored the judge not to take him away. Public defender Ted Fellman said Crowley had no money and was living near Lolo Hot Springs. Sheriff’s officials said Crowley, the child’s mother and the boy were living in a camp near the hot springs in Lolo National Forest. Crowley is from Portland, Oregon, and was previously arrested in June in Missoula on a fugitive warrant from Oregon for a probation violation, Missoula County prosecutors said. He has a string of prior arrests that include burglary, assault, drug and criminal mischief charges, Deputy County Attorney Brittany Williams said. The nature of Crowley’s relationship to the baby was not immediately clear. Crowley did not enter a plea during the court hearing. Judge Marie Andersen set bail at $200,000 and scheduled his next court date for July 25. Deputies were called to Lolo Hot Springs at 8 pm Saturday because Crowley was creating a disturbance and threatening to fire a gun, Missoula County prosecutors said. Crowley was disoriented, likely because of drug use, and unable to help officers find the baby or say how long ago the crash had occurred, charging documents said. He variously said the baby was lying on the side of the road or had died and was buried in the woods. But Crowley described crashing along an abandoned road that Jessop recognized as one that he started searching a little while earlier until it got too rough. He called for a four-wheel drive vehicle and he and Scholz found the wreck beyond the road’s end. They followed a trail of items that included baby formula and a diaper bag before hearing the child. The baby was taken via ambulance to the hospital. On the way, the baby coughed up small sticks, the charging document said. He was treated for dehydration, lack of food and scratches, cuts and bruises and was placed in the custody of the Department of Public Health and Human Services. For Jessop, who has three daughters, the rescue gave him encouragement in what he described as an emotionally draining job. In 2010, a coroner’s inquest cleared Jessop in the fatal shooting of a man who had tried to shoot the deputy during a late-night traffic stop. “To experience this, to have God help me, let me experience something like this, just gives me an extra boost,” Jessop said. “You know what? Cops actually do matter sometimes. We actually do a good job. So it’s pretty encouraging for me.”<doc-sep>
5-month-old baby rescued after being left partially buried on Montana mountain for at least 9 hours 5-month-old baby rescued after being left partially buried on Montana mountain for at least 9 hours originally appeared on abcnews.go.com A 5-month-old infant boy was found partially buried on a mountain after sheriff's deputies heard the faint cry of a baby after an hours-long search, authorities said. "This was a huge miracle and we are thankful to everyone that came out to search and the people who made the 911 calls,” Brenda Bassett, a sheriff's department spokeswoman in Missoula County, Montana, told ABC News. The sheriff's office became aware that a baby might be buried somewhere in a mountainous area after they received a call Saturday night about a man acting strangely in the Lolo Hot Springs area, according to a Facebook post by the sheriff's department. "Upon arrival, deputies discovered the suspect, 32-year-old Francis Carlton Crowley, had left the area and that a 5-month-old who had been left in his care had not been seen for several hours," the sheriff's office said in the post. Deputies apprehended Crowley after he was found to have returned to the area. PHOTO: A 5-month-old baby was rescued in Montana after being left partially buried on a mountain, the Missoula Count sheriff’s office said. (Missoula County, Montana, Sheriff's Department) "When trying to question Crowley, he appeared to be under the influence of drugs and was not making sense to officers," the sheriff's statement said. "Statements made by Crowley indicated the baby was possibly buried somewhere in the mountains." A search was launched that included members of the county search-and-rescue team, the U.S. Forest Service, the federal Bureau of Land Management, the Montana Highway Patrol and the Missoula County sheriff's office. For more than six hours, teams of people scoured the woods on foot. Then an officer heard the faint cry of a baby, the sheriff’s post said. “He followed the sound and found the baby alive, face down, buried under a pile of sticks and debris. Clothed in only a wet and soiled onesie, the baby was found at approximately 2:30 am, putting the infant in the woods unattended and in the cold (approximately 46 degrees) for a minimum of 9 hours,” the statement on Facebook said. Story continues “When we brought him out, we took him right to the hospital, he had some scratches and bruises but otherwise in good health," sheriff's office spokeswoman Bassett told ABC News. "He is expected to make a full recovery.” No information has been released about the child's family except that Bassett said Crowley is not the biological father. Crowley is being held at the county detention facility on charges of criminal endangerment with other charges to follow, the sheriff's statement on Facebook said. Crowley is to appear in court Tuesday. It is unclear if at this point if he has a lawyer.