Alysha and a friend noticed a mother leaving a child alone in a motel room. She and the friend told authorities that they agreed to babysit the 5-month-old girl, Lily, while the mother stepped out.
"We saw her Sunday night, and she asked if we could help her and take care of the baby," Alysha said. "She grabbed debit cards and just left. We agreed to watch her while she went to get money for diapers for the baby, but she never came back. She said she would call, but we never heard from her. The baby was by herself."
Alysha stayed with Lily overnight. The next morning, they still hadn't heard from the mother. As the hours passed, they took Lily to a firehouse as a last resort.
"Pretty much bringing her here was the last resort because we don't know where she belongs," Alysha said.
While Lily was too old to be protected by Texas' "Baby Moses Law," the firefighters welcomed her warmly.
“Well, they were like a little bit shocked,” Alysha said. “[But] they were more than willing to help and they jumped right into action.”
The mother was identified by police as Stephanie Estrada, and she was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Estrada was charged with abandonment and child endangerment. Lily was placed with child protective services, but her uncle, who noticed Estrada was behaving strangely, said the family will do everything they can to get Lily back.
"We love Lillian, she is our angel," the uncle said. "Everyone in our family loves her. It really hurts that my sister didn't bring the baby to our family's house. We will do everything we can to get her back."
Thanks to Alysha trusting her gut, Lily is safe and healthy. Things could have been much worse had she not taken notice of the situation in time.
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