Woman who found baby in dumpster: 'I just kind of fell on my knees, started crying'

EVERETT, Wash. -- Paula Andrews says she was overcome by emotion after finding a newborn baby underneath several bags of trash in an apartment complex dumpster/trash compactor.

"I just kind of fell on my knees and started crying because I could not believe that someone would actually throw a human life away," she said Monday. "It broke my heart."

On Friday afternoon, Andrews was throwing away some trash when she and another woman heard the faint cries of what they thought might be a baby doll. Paula worried that it could have been a real baby and jumped in the dumpster to find out.

Andrews said, "I just had this motherly instinct. I think God was telling me something. Don’t stop. Keep digging. Find out. Make sure."

Andrews pulled about 20 bags of trash out of the dumpster and discovered the newborn child, cold and covered in blood, but alive.

"To find a baby in a dumpster, it easily could have been compacted," Andrews said. "He’s got some meaning in life. There’s some purpose for this baby.”

The baby boy was taken to Providence Regional Medical Center, where the infant was in such good condition, officials said Monday, that he would probably be released later in the day to Child Protective Services.