It’s an amazing story worthy of the big screen.
It was three days before Christmas in 2000, when police lieutenant Gene Eyster got a call about a baby boy found abandoned, wrapped in cloths, and lying in a cardboard box.
“Baby Boy Doe” became the talk of the town in South Bend, Indiana as Eyster conducted an investigation into the mystery infant.
“’Baby Doe’ sounded so cruel, so… I started calling him ‘Baby Jesus’ since it was so close to Christmas,” Eyster explained, adding that he feels like he found the little one in a makeshift manger.
The officer bought him a teddy bear to bring him a “little bit of comfort.”
And soon the baby boy was placed with a great adoptive family.
Eyster often wondered what happened to the baby over the past 23 years – until his phone rang in March.
“Gene, you aren’t going to believe this,” said South Bend Police Officer Josh Morgan.
He asked him if he remember the baby from the Park Jefferson apartment case.
Eyster said of course he did. He doesn’t forget anything – especially not that one.
“He’s sitting next to me right now,” Morgan exclaimed. “He’s my rookie!”
South Bend Police Officer Matthew Hegedus-Stewart told Morgan shared a little bit about his story after responding to a call about an abandoned child – revealing it also happened in South Bend.
Morgan quickly tracked down the original case report from Dec. 2000 and saw Eyster’s name as the lead investigator.
A week later, Matthew got to meet Eyster for the first time since he left him a teddy bear in his crib at the hospital.
“You’re a little bit bigger now,” Eyster joked to Matthew.
He got to share the case documents with Matthew, dozens of photos of him at the hospital, images he nor his family had ever seen before.
Matthew, now an officer wearing the same uniform as Eyster when he was discovered almost 24 years ago, told him “Thank you for everything you did for me.”
That was March 22, 2024. Another date Eyster is sure to remember – the day he finally got to meet “Baby Jesus” all grown up, serving as a police officer in South Bend just like he did.
“Matt should be very proud of himself as should his adoptive parents Jack Stewart and Mary Ellen Hegedus,” Eyster wrote on Facebook, “adding, “to coin a phrase agreed to by many, ‘you raised a fine young man.'”
The two plan to stay in touch.
“I look forward to hearing and seeing what goals Matt will achieve in the future and wish him and his family all the best,” Eyster said.
And I can’t wait to see their story on the big screen!
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Caleb Parke is a Newsmax correspondent. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and connect with him at calebparke.com.
