SHILOH, IL (FOX2now.com) -
A baby in Shiloh, Illinois survived alone for between two and four days after her mother died in their apartment. The baby already had kidneys that were functioning poorly, which makes her survival that much more of a miracle.
"I opened the door and could smell it so I backed away and they went," it was the overwhelming smell that signaled to the apartment manager at Rockwood Apartments in Shiloh that something was wrong inside Krystal Patton's unit Saturday night. She prepared for the worst.
"I was crying because I thought that baby is dead."
But moments after police brought the baby out, what many call a miracle.
"They were in the ambulance working on her," tells the manager, "and all of sudden we heard the baby crying."
That little girl was alive after what the coroner surmises is anywhere from 2-4 days alone.
The last anyone saw of the 24-year-old mother was Tuesday night. The child was alone for likely four days without formula in a soiled diaper and in the bassinet next to her mother's lifeless body.
"She's a fighter," says Kimberly White the baby's grandmother, "she's still fighting."
The only thing that makes the death of her daughter any less painful for white is the gift of her granddaughter.
"God took one and left us one." How Krystal died, an ongoing autopsy will determine but police don't suspect foul play at this point. Living near Staunton without a car her mother was left to worry for most of the week.
"I called her Wednesday and she didn't return my phone call I called her Thursday she didn't return my phone call then I called my cousin Saturday," says White.
Saturday evening police went in and found the tragedy and miracle in the same upstairs room where the thermometer was set on an un-comfortable 78 degrees. The apartment next door is vacant and the residents in the next closest unit were out of town, so no one to hear any crying if there was any.
"Four days," says an astonished grandmother, "four days she laid in that bed next to her deceased mom and she survived."
Dehydrated, with a bad diaper rash and despite an existing kidney condition the baby girl named Callie survived.
"That gives me a lot of hope," says White, "she is a miracle and I'm blessed and she is blessed and the whole family is blessed that we have her and she can carry on Krystal's legacy."
Patton does have a 7-year-old child who is with her father for the summer.
The baby's presumed father is in prison, so a blood test may clear up some confusion and conflict over custody. Kimberly White is anxious to raise her daughter as she knows only she can.
"She belongs to me," says White, "I will be able to tell her about her mom."
"I opened the door and could smell it so I backed away and they went," it was the overwhelming smell that signaled to the apartment manager at Rockwood Apartments in Shiloh that something was wrong inside Krystal Patton's unit Saturday night. She prepared for the worst.
"I was crying because I thought that baby is dead."
But moments after police brought the baby out, what many call a miracle.
"They were in the ambulance working on her," tells the manager, "and all of sudden we heard the baby crying."
That little girl was alive after what the coroner surmises is anywhere from 2-4 days alone.
The last anyone saw of the 24-year-old mother was Tuesday night. The child was alone for likely four days without formula in a soiled diaper and in the bassinet next to her mother's lifeless body.
"She's a fighter," says Kimberly White the baby's grandmother, "she's still fighting."
The only thing that makes the death of her daughter any less painful for white is the gift of her granddaughter.
"God took one and left us one." How Krystal died, an ongoing autopsy will determine but police don't suspect foul play at this point. Living near Staunton without a car her mother was left to worry for most of the week.
"I called her Wednesday and she didn't return my phone call I called her Thursday she didn't return my phone call then I called my cousin Saturday," says White.
Saturday evening police went in and found the tragedy and miracle in the same upstairs room where the thermometer was set on an un-comfortable 78 degrees. The apartment next door is vacant and the residents in the next closest unit were out of town, so no one to hear any crying if there was any.
"Four days," says an astonished grandmother, "four days she laid in that bed next to her deceased mom and she survived."
Dehydrated, with a bad diaper rash and despite an existing kidney condition the baby girl named Callie survived.
"That gives me a lot of hope," says White, "she is a miracle and I'm blessed and she is blessed and the whole family is blessed that we have her and she can carry on Krystal's legacy."
Patton does have a 7-year-old child who is with her father for the summer.
The baby's presumed father is in prison, so a blood test may clear up some confusion and conflict over custody. Kimberly White is anxious to raise her daughter as she knows only she can.
"She belongs to me," says White, "I will be able to tell her about her mom."
