A young couple walked onto a Southwest Philadelphia overpass, cuddled and kissed a baby and then leaned over and let the child go as two trains screeched along the tracks below.
Or did they?
Police searched a Southwest Philadelphia neighborhood by ground and air Friday looking for the baby and the couple; hoping there was some other explanation for what one woman believes she saw as she drove across the 68th Street overpass near Kingsessing Avenue.
“She sees the female, she’s got what she described as a light-skinned baby with hair, in her arms, almost cradling it and then she sees the male take the baby, give it a kiss, she believes on the forehead, and then he leans over this cement rail toward the track area," explained Lt. John Walker.
Did that really just happen?
Not absolutely sure that's what she saw, the woman called her boyfriend as she continued driving to the gym. He told her to hang up and call 911.
A short time later, the witness met police back at the scene.
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Investigators used dogs to help in the initial search covering a mile-and-a-half near the overpass. The search area expanded once police determined that conductors one of the two CSX trains passing under the bridge also saw the young couple on the overpass.
Both trains were stopped — one in Chester County and the other in Bucks, while police looked over the cars. An air crew checked the entire stretch of track.
Neighborhood surveillance cameras also captured the mystery couple. One video shows them on the bridge, but from the back, so you don't see what's going on in front of them.
Video from a second camera shows the couple walking away, holding hands.
The couple is described as being between 17 and 21, according to the witness who alerted police. She said the woman was dressed in Muslim garb with a headpiece. The man wore a shirt and bluejeans and was carrying a white item the witness thought was a blanket.
"We're hoping it wasn't what this young lady saw," Walker said, but “if someone knows someone in this area who recently had a child, maybe within the last year, and no longer has that kid, to please alert us.” Walker asked anyone with information to call 215-686-TIPS.
