Matthew Hegedus-Stewart said he wonders if his story subconsciously motivated him to pursue a career in law enforcement. (South Bend Police Department)
South Bend, Ind.
A special meeting took place between two men earlier this year that has been nearly 25 years in the making.
Retired South Bend Police Lt. Gene Eyster said he never forgot the day he was called to investigate a case regarding a newborn baby being abandoned in a cardboard box.
According to the South Bend Police Department, a resident at an area apartment complex called the department on Dec. 22, 2000, about a crying baby that was found sitting in a box in a hallway.
Responding officers took the baby to a hospital before contacting Eyster, who was a sergeant in the department’s major crimes unit at the time.
Eyster said he had a lot of questions when he started the investigation. He enlisted the help of local media to get the word out regarding the abandoned baby who affectionately became known as “Baby Jesus” as he was found so close to Christmas.
According to the police department, Eyster visited the baby boy in the hospital and bought him a teddy bear to help comfort the infant.
The baby’s birth parents were later identified, and the mother was charged with neglect.
Authorities said the boy was eventually adopted by a new family.
Eyster continued to work for the department until retirement but shared that he often wondered what happened to the little boy.
South Bend police said Eyster wouldn’t have to wonder anymore after he received a call from Officer Josh Morgan in March.
Morgan asked Eyster if he remembered investigating the abandoned baby case. The retired lieutenant said of course he did.
“[Well] he’s sitting next to me right now,” Morgan told Eyster. “He is my rookie!”
The baby found at the Park Jefferson Apartments had grown up and joined the same police department that helped rescue him becoming South Bend Police Officer Matthew Hegedus-Stewart.
The department said Hegedus-Stewart mentioned his story to Morgan when the two were out on an abandoned child call.
On March 22, Eyster was able to meet Hegedus-Stewart for the first time since he brought the teddy bear to him at the hospital.
“You’re a little bit bigger now,” Eyster joked to Hegedus-Stewart.
The two spent time chatting and sifting through the case documents that included more than a dozen photos of a 2-day-old Hegedus-Stewart at the hospital.
Hegedus-Stewart said he has to wonder, even subconsciously, if his experience motivated him to want to pursue a career in law enforcement.
He said he never imagined he would end up at the same agency that helped investigate his case as a baby.
“Thank you for everything you did for me,” Hegedus-Stewart told Eyster while shaking his hand.