Jul 25, 2008 12:47 pm US/Eastern
Baby's Cries Help Rescuers Find Boy In Rubble
Grandmother Killed, Grandfather Blown Out Of Home
DEERFIELD, N.H. (CBS) ―
A baby's cries led to the infant's rescue after a tornado demolished his grandparents' lakeside home in Thursday.
The boy's grandmother, Brenda Stevens, 57, was killed in the sudden tragedy in New Hampshire.
Deerfield Fire Chief Mark Tibbetts said Friday that the grandfather, Harley Stevens, headed downstairs a little before noon Thursday because he was worried by the heavy black clouds rolling in.
"No more than he got downstairs and it started throwing him from side to side and rotating him around the house," Tibbetts said. He then was thrown outside.
His wife and the 3-month-old boy, whose name has not been released, were both sandwiched between the collapsed first and second floors, state Fire Marshall William Degnan said. She was pronounced dead at the scene, but Degnan said the infant was in a void.
Degnan said Harley Stevens "was blown out the side of the building and found in the side yard." Concord Hospital said he was released after being checked out at the emergency room Thursday afternoon.
He did not respond to efforts to reach him through neighbors.
Neighbors say the couple had been watching the boy while his parents, Harley Stevens' son and his wife, were at work.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
