Story Archive

Take a Bath II

“For all of us at the sheriff’s office, this is what we call a miracle,” said the Missoula, Mont., Sheriff’s Office. Deputies had been called to Lolo Hot Springs because a man had been “acting strange,” threatening to shoot people. The man was gone by the time deputies arrived, but witnesses say the man previously had a young baby — and it wasn’t with him when he fled. Francis Carlton Crowley, 32, was later apprehended, but was so high on drugs, he wasn’t making sense. What they did get out of him was that he had been in a car crash, and the baby was “possibly” buried in the woods near where he was apprehended. An intense search was conducted, and at 2:30 a.m., at least nine hours after the incident started, a rescuer heard the baby crying; sure enough, he was face down, buried under twigs and other forest debris. The 5-month-old was hospitalized in good condition. Once Crowley sobered up, he admitted he had been using meth and “bath salts,” and revealed why he had left the baby behind: he was “very heavy.” Crowley, a fugitive from Oregon, is charged with criminal endangerment, and “additional charges will follow,” the sheriff’s office says. (RC/Missoula Missoulian) ...He ain’t heavy, Crowley: he’s your brother.