Newborn Disappears in Walmart then Mother Hears Faint Cry, Later Sees Video from Camera

A mother was busy checking baby food products in Walmart. She thought her baby was sleeping in the cart behind her, but when she turned around to stow the products she intended to purchase in the cart, it was missing.

Redditor LetsRead_YouTube , who identified herself as Jayme, was a 21-year-old single mother when she moved to Bradenton, Florida, with her newborn baby. She worked at a daycare center, splitting time between work and baby care.

After a hard time conceiving, Jayme and her partner welcomed their miracle baby, Promyse Rose. Jayme was overly delighted with the birth of her only child, and while everything seemed perfect, one horrible incident at Walmart pushed her to the extremes of protecting her baby.

Jayme recalled it was a Saturday when she verntured to a Walmart store to buy baby food for Promyse. She thought she would start her with veggies. She took Promyse with her, excited at the prospect of feeding her baby veggies for the first time.

Promyse was sleeping in the infant car seat when they arrived at Walmart. Jayme moved her into the shopping cart and took her into the store.

Before proceeding to the baby food aisle, Jayme shopped for essentials first. When she finally reached the baby food aisle, she opted for green beans.

Recalling the incident, Jayme remembered grabbing three Stage 1 jars of green bean baby food, but when she turned back to put them in the cart, her whole world collapsed. Her shopping cart, including her baby girl, was gone.

"I dropped the jars and screamed [where's] my baby[?] Everyone turned and looked at me but no one moved," recounted the panicked mom. While she was shocked and scared, she knew she had to stay composed to find her little girl.

Recalling specific childcare instructions she learned at the daycare, Jayme used them to locate her baby. She rushed to the front of the store to inform security that her child had been kidnapped, emphasizing the need to initiate a lockdown. Luckily, the Walmart manager happened to be standing right behind her.

She later pressed charges against the woman.

All the exits were immediately locked, and nobody was allowed to enter or leave the premises. Jayme cried uncontrollably but answered the security's questions. Camera technology in cell phones wasn't so popular back when the incident happened in 2005. However, Jayme showed the authorities photos of her baby from her purse.

Several staff and volunteers rushed to search for Promyse and any signs of her belongings. Nearly an hour had elapsed when Jayme started to lose hope and called out her daughter's name. At that moment, an officer proposed examining the security tapes to check if anyone had exited the store with the baby.

Jayme recounted that she began the long descent to the front of the store. Although the officers were talking, what they were saying wasn't registering with her. But when they passed the women's wear area, she heard a baby's cry.

The mom knew it was her baby. She asked the cops to stay quiet so that she could hear the faint sound of Promyse crying. She followed the sound, rushing to the source, and stood frozen as she stared at the cart with her baby hidden in a rack of clothes.

Jayme realized that whoever took her baby tried to hide her in the rack. She quickly unbuckled Promyse and held her tight, falling to her knees. Enraged, she was determined to find out who abducted her child.

Luckily, her baby wasn't hurt except for a dirty diaper. She sighed in relief and followed the authorities to the security office where she viewed the CCTV footage that revealed what actually happened.

The footage showed a woman with two children pretending to shop in the baby aisle. One of the children, a boy, was slowly pushing the cart with Promyse sleeping inside. Authorities searched for the woman and the children in the store, confident that the three were hiding in the crowd, with the facility being locked up.

After searching through the crowd of shoppers that day, the small family was eventually located. When questioned, the woman who was with the children claimed her son had stolen the cart, and expressed fear of being charged with a crime or having immigration called on her.

Promyse's mother later pressed charges against the woman, and a year later, it was found that the woman, who was in her 20s, was of Mexican descent and wasn't the mother of the two kids who were with her. She had abducted them too and wanted to kidnap a baby. That's when she spotted baby Promyse in Walmart. Jayme was horrified by the unsettling details that came to light.

The condition of the abductor's apartment was distressing, and she had been convicted of several crimes in other states. Subsequently, she received a prison sentence of approximately 15-20 years.

The shocking incident occurred in 2005, but Jayme shared her narrative on Reddit years later, in September 2019. Following the post, a Redditor inquired if Jayme planned to inform her daughter about the incident. Meanwhile, Redditor LondonFogAddict91 expressed gratitude, stating, "I'm so glad that she's ok and with you. Thank god you knew to shut down the place instead of look. I will keep that in mind from now on."

Jayme decided never to take her daughter to Walmart again, going to great lengths to protect her. Promyse had since grown into a lively teenager by the time Jayme shared her story, expressing gratitude to all the employees and volunteers who had assisted in finding her baby.

Over the years, Jayme's aversion to the woman who had abducted her baby remained unchanged, and she wished never to encounter her again.

Similar Stories of Walmart Abductions

Interestingly, Jayme's experience isn't the only case of kidnapping in Walmart stores. People quite often complained about creepy folks following them in Walmart, and one such post popped up on Reddit in December 2022. Titled "The elusive Walmart kidnappers," it read:

"Woman claims someone attempted to kidnap a kid she knows. The police, the accused "kidnapper", AND a Walmart employee show up to let everyone know the real story [sic]."

However, based on the many comments shared by Walmart shoppers, it was soon revealed that what families considered "abduction" quite often involved their kids wandering around the store, getting lost, and then someone taking them to the front desk so they could be reunited with their loved ones.

What are your thoughts on this story? Click here to read another one about a mother who hired a nanny and installed hidden cameras before leaving. Later, she checked the camera footage and rushed home.