That little baby boy grew up to be a Marine corporal.
FBI agent Troy Sowers got a special surprise Friday as he celebrated his retirement with coworkers, who reunited with him a newborn baby he saved when he was just a rookie.
In 1997, Sowers was a new special agent working in Washington State when he was assigned to a kidnapping case in Lakewood. A mother had just given birth at a local hospital, and a woman posing as a doctor took the baby.
Authorities went on a 19-hour search for the woman and the precious infant. When the kidnapper was taken into custody, she led Sowers to the little boy she had abandoned in a cardboard box by a convenience store.
Sowers never got to see what became of the baby he saved — until Friday.
At the retirement party where Sowers expected only donuts and coffee, a coworker displayed a photo of a young Marine in uniform. That 22-year-old corporal, named Stewart Rembert, was the baby Sowers returned to his parents.
Rembert then walked into the small room and shook Sowers' hand.
“Hello, sir,” Rembert said, according to the FBI. “Thank you."
Sowers said he was overcome with emotion by the surprise.
“Today when I saw him, I had to pause a couple of seconds to keep my composure,” Sowers said, according to the FBI. “This case was something I remembered throughout my career.”
Rembert was looking forward to meeting the man who saved him.
“I was happy to tell him that I’m living a good life, and I’m going to continue living a good life. His efforts that day, and all of his efforts since, made a difference," Rembert said.
Rembert has serviced in the Marine Corps for three years and is currently based in North Carolina.
“I'm proud of anybody that serves others above themselves,” Sowers said. “The fact that he is now doing that makes that case even more special.”
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