A mum who allegedly threw her seven-week-old daughter down a 75ft gorge while still strapped to her car seat 'then told police she had been kidnapped'.
The crying baby - named Shaylie - was discovered by a couple who said she was covered in scratches and had fallen from the seat during the terrifying ordeal.
Mother-of-two Krista Noelle Madden 35, has been charged with attempted first-degree murder after the horrifying incident in Asheville, North Carolina, US.
She allegedly told cops her daughter had been kidnapped on Thursday, but the abductors had agreed to let her go, the Sun reports.
Babysitter shook and beat girl, 3, to death because she was 'mad'
Little Shaylie, who survived the massive drop, was found by husband and wife Scott and Cheryl Fowler.
Cheryl had been collecting their mail on their remote woodland property in the mountains, near Chimney Rock, in the west of the state when she heard crying.
"She had some scratches," said Cheryl, describing the moment she found the child.
"On her forehead, on the back of her head. Below her knee and on her arm.
"She has some dirt around her eyes."
Police search woman, 35, and make a VERY disturbing discovery
Scott told WLOS : "What kind of human being could do this?"
“I’m just happy she’s ok. It could have turned out a lot differently.”
Remarkably, baby Shaylie did not suffer any serious injuries in the fall, according to Henderson County Sheriff's office.
Investigators used data from mobile phone triangulation to pinpoint mum Krista's whereabouts at the moment the baby was dumped, then charging her with attempted first-degree murder.
She is being held in the local county jail on a $750,000 bond and will attend court on May 28.
Sheriff Lowell Griffin said: “This was, simply, in my opinion, by the grace of a merciful God, that we had a female that goes to check her mailbox.”
An alleged motive has not been revealed, with police saying the probe is in its early stages, CNN reports.
