Los Angeles deputies describe what it was like rescuing a baby buried alive

Authorities in Los Angeles County say if two women hadn't heard the muffled cries of a baby abandoned on a bike path in Compton on Friday afternoon, the newborn would not have survived.

The women notified the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and Deputies Adam Collette and David Perry came to investigate. Collette heard noises coming from a crevice, and quickly started lifting up pieces of asphalt with Perry. There, about a foot down, was a newborn of three or four days old wrapped in a hospital blanket. "The cry that I heard, as a father, was more of a cry for help, I'm hungry, but not like an I'm injured and hurt," Collette said Monday during a press conference. "I knew what I was hearing, but I didn't believe it."

The baby was cold to the touch, and rushed to a hospital; she's still there under observation, but is doing well. The baby is known as Jane Doe, but detectives on her case have taken to calling her "Baby Grace," the Los Angeles Times reports. They would like to speak with the newborn's mother, and encourage her to come forward. "We're also worried for her well being," Det. Jennifer Valenzuela of the Special Victim's Bureau said. The baby has black hair, and could be of Hispanic or African-American descent. California has a safe-surrender law, which lets parents drop babies off at hospitals and fire stations within 72 hours of their birth without criminal liability. The baby — the fourth abandoned in Los Angeles County so far this year — will eventually be adopted.

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