ODESSA, TX (KWES) - We told you about Baby Girl Doe who was found as a newborn in a pickup in Odessa 28 years ago.
She went on a journey to find her biological family who unfortunately wanted no contact with her. Instead, she did find her extended family who welcomed her with open arms.
Recently, we showed you she reunited with the store clerk who found her that night. But there was another rescuer who hasn't forgotten about her after all these years.
Sergeant Jordan Medrano retired from the Odessa Police Department two years ago. Back in 1989, when he was new to the department, he responded to an unexpected call of a newborn found in the pickup of a convenience store parking lot. It was a story that made newspaper headlines and caused a long investigation with OPD.
"Every day I always thought about her because I didn't know what happened to her," said Medrano.
What Medrano also didn't know is that he would one day come face to face with the baby he held 28 years ago, Baby Girl Doe, who's now known as Kristin Brown.
Medrano was the officer who conducted the preliminary investigation that night Brown was discovered.
"You carry a person in your heart and mind," said Medrano. "I wanted to adopt her."
As Medrano and Brown sat in the OPD conference room, there were tears and emotions that filled the air. He tells her, "You were loved by somebody that in a way was indescribable. You were carried in my heart and my mind from that very day at that moment. You were never put away. Never put away."
Brown spent her new life in Missouri shortly after being adopted by her foster family. Over the years, Sgt. Medrano wondered who she was, where she was or whether his oldest daughter, whose name is also Kristin, was friends with her growing up.
"What just blew my mind was your first name," he tells Brown. "Your first name is spelled exactly like my oldest daughter's first name. Now that I see your face, the messages are so deep. You have the same scar on your right eye as my daughter does."
Medrano said after reading the first paragraph in our first article about Baby Girl Doe, he knew it was the same investigation he was involved with decades ago. Finally, he felt a sense of peace.
"It's like I don't have to worry no more," he told Brown. "You worry about the people you love, the people you care about. But here's a God who loves you that put you in my life and he put you there for a reason."
He carried her in his arms 28 years ago. Then for 28 years, he carried her in his mind.
"There's moments in my life I'd hope I'd never forget," he says to Brown. "One was coming in contact with you when you were a baby, and this moment right here, believe it or not. That's how important you are."
For the first time in his life, Sgt. Medrano's long-time prayers are finally answered.
"I had no clue someone out there was thinking about me," said Brown. "It feels good to know I was loved even though I didn't know it."
Medrano recently had a birthday and said finally meeting the baby he wondered about for 28 years is one of the best birthday gifts he'd ever receive.
Brown is on a mission to be a voice for foundlings and adoptees. She hopes more people can be aware of Safe Haven laws. You can follow her on her blog here.
