Police Confirm 16-Year-Old Girl Is Mother Of Baby Boy Abandoned In Hermosa

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago police have confirmed a 16-year-old girl is the mother of a newborn baby found abandoned on Tuesday in an alley in the Hermosa neighborhood.

Area North detectives questioned the girl overnight and determined Thursday morning she is the boy's mother. They were continuing to question her and the baby's father Thursday morning.

Police have not provided any information on how the girl came forward, or if she or the baby's father will be charged with a crime.

The baby boy is being treated at Lurie Children's Hospital, after he was found Tuesday on top of a garbage can Tuesday afternoon in an alley near Keystone and Wabansia.

A mother and daughter spotted the baby after hearing him crying then took him to a firehouse, where firefighters called for an ambulance. Paramedics then tied off the umbilical cord of the bleeding baby and began working on him.

Paramedic field chief Pat Fitzmaurice said "the baby was cold as the concrete" on a night temperatures were in the 40s. Crews worked on the baby, who they say was not breathing and had no pulse, for more than a half hour before emergency room workers took over.

"I wasn't too optimistic, like I said to the lieutenant here," Fitzmaurice said. "I wasn't ready to lose this one today, and neither were they. And they worked very hard. Then we got excellent response from Chicago police, who escorted the ambulance to Norwegian American, and they did a fantastic job there."

The baby was taken to Norwegian American Hospital and then transported to Lurie Children's Hospital.

A source told CBS 2's Dana Kozlov the baby was stabilized and moving his arms and legs with his eyes open after the incident.

The boy will be placed in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services when he is released from the hospital, likely in a couple days.

The family of missing 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa had been hoping the baby was hers, believing Ochoa is still alive, but has been kidnapped. She went missing on April 23, and her due date was Sunday.

Ochoa's family wanted police to conduct a DNA test on the abandoned baby to determine if he might be her son.

"We praise God that, no matter whose baby it is, that this baby turned out through the efforts of the fire department to be alive. That's a blessing from the Lord," Rev. Walter Coleman, the family's pastor said on Wednesday.

Ochoa was last seen leaving Latino Youth High School in Pilsen. Her family has said there have been possible sightings at the Walgreens at 55th and Kedzie. There also have been reports she was seen at a Mexican restaurant just blocks away, but nothing has been confirmed.

"We hope that it is the baby, but we're also worried that my wife won't appear," said Marlen's husband Giovanni Lopez. "We're desperate, we're sad; in hopes that the baby they found is my wife's."

Coleman said the family is convinced Ochoa has been kidnapped.

"We're convinced now that there's some wrongdoing here; that this is not somebody that just disappeared. This is somebody that we believe is being held, and we hope that she's alright," he said. "We would appeal to those who we believe are holding Marlen, think about your own mothers. Think about what a child needs from their mother. Think about the pain of the rest of the family members separated from a daughter, a wife that they love, and return Marlen. Call and tell us where she is, so that we can resolve this quickly."