Georgia authorities search for mother of baby found alive wrapped in a plastic bag in woods at night

Authorities in Forsyth County, Georgia are looking for the mother of a baby found wrapped in a plastic bag in the woods.

Here's what we know

The man who found the baby, local homeowner Alan Ragetz, said he thought she couldn't be more than a few hours old and could have been even younger. He said that he and his daughters had been unloading bags from their car at 10 p.m. on Thursday after coming home from a trip when they heard a sound in the woods. At first, they thought what they heard could be an animal in distress. It wasn't until they followed the sound that they realized it was a human baby.

"We went down, pulled it up, there was a poor little baby wrapped in a plastic bag and called 9-1-1, " Ragetz told WSB-TV. And "she was alive, she was crying, so we figured that was a good sign." He credited his daughters with saving the little girl, and acknowledged that "it could have been worse." Ragetz reportedly owned the only home near where the baby was found.

In a news conference on Friday, Sheriff Ron Freeman credited "divine intervention" with helping Ragetz and his daughters find the baby.

Georgia has what is known as a "safe haven law," which would have permitted the child's mother to drop her baby off at a hospital or a police or fire station up until the baby is seven days old, without fear of any prosecution.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the baby was in stable condition as of Friday morning.