When the cop learned about the identity of the child he saved after his retirement, his happiness knew no bounds.
Call it a miracle or a coincidence, but life has a way of coming to a full circle. Gene Eyster, a kind police officer from the South Bend Police Department, Indiana, experienced this magic recently. Back in 2000, he discovered a baby abandoned in a cardboard box and decided to rescue it. Officer Eyster did not get a chance to meet the infant afterward but after two decades, he met the child in the most wholesome way, per TODAY.
Eyster first met the newborn infant in December 2000, three days before Christmas, when he received a late-night phone call about a baby found abandoned in a cardboard box. The newborn had been discovered by college students in hallway in a South Bend apartment building.
Police Lieutenant Eyster did the needful and rescued the child and took him to the hospital. Eyster revealed, "He was wrapped in blankets and a flannel shirt. There was no note." On his way to the hospital, Eyster said that he had picked up a teddy bear to bring the baby a “little bit of comfort.”
During the investigation, Eyster managed to give a nickname to the infant - “Baby Jesus.” He felt the name "Baby Boy Doe" didn’t sit right with him. Eyster, who is now 70, said, “He was born a couple of days before Christmas and placed in a box — and in my mind that box was a manger. So he became Baby Jesus."
The newborn was later put up for adoption and welcomed by a loving family, but he never left the policeman’s mind. Eyster said he always wondered, "What did he turn out to be?" He even wondered if the kid was alive or not. For years, Officer Eyster had an unfulfilled desire to reunite with the child. Fast forward to 2024, Eyster received a phone call from his old colleague Joshua Morgan who informed him that the long-lost infant was now a police officer. Eyster said, "He goes, 'You’re not going to believe this, but Baby Jesus is sitting next to me right now. He’s my rookie.'"
The moment of truth arrived for both Hegedus-Stewart and Eyster as they met after a gap of almost 24 years. In a video published by CBS, the duo are spotted greeting each other in a heartwarming moment. The clip further shows them playing catchup while going through the preserved documents of the two-decade-old rescue.
For Officer Eyster, who is now retired from the police force, the reunion with the rescued infant is not just special but emotional in a lot of ways. The 70-year-old had his own set of tragedies to deal with as he recently lost his only son. As a result, his meeting with the young man sporting the same uniform he wore for nearly five decades was a special occasion for both sides. On the other side, it was a heartwarming moment for Officer Hegedus-Stewart to meet his "savior." The 24-year-old police officer shook his hand and said, "Thank you for everything you did for me." The moment brought tears to the eyes of people who witnessed the reunion.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on May 3, 2024. It has since been updated
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