Search For Missing Florida Baby Ends Underneath Sitter's Bed, Child Found Unharmed

November 5, 2009 7:06 p.m. EST

Chipley, FL (AHN) - A five-day search for a missing 7-month-old baby girl from Florida ended Wednesday when police found her alive inside a box hidden underneath the bed of her babysitter in the town of Chipley.

Shannon Dedrick was found unharmed and was taken into protective custody by police. The babysitter, Susan Baker, her husband James, and Dedrick's mother, Chrystina Lynn Mercer have been arrested.

It was Mercer who reported her child missing on Saturday. But Investigators learned she voluntarily gave the child to Baker before reporting to the police.

The babysitter was previously charged with abduction and child abuse in connection with the disappearance of his three-year-old son in 1987. The son named Paul was never found after Baker reported her missing.