Vehicle Stolen With Infant Inside Recovered Near Bob Evans; Suspect Sought

Staff report

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — May 5, 2025

Police are searching for a suspect who stole a vehicle with an infant inside late Sunday night in Bloomington.

According to Capt. Ryan Pedigo of the Bloomington Police Department, officers responded to the Speedway gas station at 3939 W. Third Street around 11:15 p.m. on May 4 for a report of a stolen vehicle and child abduction.

A 23-year-old Bloomington woman told police she left her infant son asleep in the back seat of her 2013 Chevrolet Equinox while she went into the store to purchase a money order. She said the vehicle was parked directly outside the entrance and visible from inside. The woman said the transaction took longer than expected, and as she looked outside, she saw her vehicle being driven out of the parking lot.

The woman, who reached out to the Bloomingtonian, ran from the store and shouted that her child was inside the stolen vehicle. Two people at the gas station let her into their car, and they followed the stolen SUV east on Third Street. The suspect was seen turning into the parking lot of Bob Evans, where the vehicle was later found abandoned in the grass, still in drive. The infant was still in the back seat and was unharmed.

“My son was asleep and I needed a money order for my rent. I parked right in front of the double doors… I screamed and threw my rent money and jumped in the back of the closest car and screamed that he had my baby,” she wrote to the Bloomingtonian. “He was on the wrong side of the road, running red lights, hit an embankment, almost flipped the car.”

The suspect fled the scene on foot and was not located. The case remains under investigation. Police are reviewing surveillance footage from nearby businesses to identify the suspect.

The mother described, in her statement to the Bloomingtonian, the suspect as a white male in his early 20s with medium-length shaggy brown hair. He was last seen wearing a light blue sweater, possibly what the mother called a “drug rug,” with an orange hoodie underneath and carrying a purple drawstring bag.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Bloomington Police Department: 812-339-4477

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