Exclusive: ‘I’m not a hero.’ How a North Myrtle Beach woman rescued an abandoned infant

Robyn Cain hadn’t planned to go for another walk the evening of Aug. 6, having already walked earlier, but for some reason, the North Myrtle Beach resident was feeling restless.

So she went out the back gate of her home – something she doesn’t normally do – a little after 6 p.m. and started down the path along Live Oak Court.

It was hot that day. There was a small, cool breeze that offered some relief, and she told herself to keep walking toward it.

As she walked, Cain heard a noise that sounded like an animal, maybe a kitten, she thought, coming from a bush.

“I’m thinking, ‘My husband is going to shoot me if I bring home a herd of kittens,’” she said Aug. 10.

As she got closer, Cain realized it wasn’t a cat, but a baby that had been left at the edge of a bush.

The baby was crying. Cain scooped up the infant, who was small with a head of black hair, wrapping the little girl in her shirt that she had pulled almost over her head. When Cain pulled the baby close to her, she stopped crying.

Cain was able to get help from her neighbors and they then called 911.

Since that day Cain held the little girl, she has tried to come to terms with what person would leave a newborn with no clothes and no blanket on the ground in the heat. Cain begins to cry as she recalls that moment.

She gave the baby girl a name, Day, because “God gave her this day to be found, and this day to live,” Cain said.

“I’m not a hero. It was a God-given thing,” the 68-year-old said. “That baby was meant to be on this earth. I’m humbled that God used me to find the baby.”

It ‘seemed like she was in a daze’

When police arrived at the scene, they began to question Cain about anything she might have seen earlier in the day, anyone who may have been in the neighborhood.

She told police about a young woman she had given a ride to work earlier.

Cain and her friend, who were riding in a golf cart, saw the woman when they passed by Cain’s house. The women waved and they drove on.

The women were planning to ride to the beach, however, the cart began acting up and Cain was brought back home. She decided to continue walking when she got home and that’s when she saw the woman again.

“She seemed a little confused,” Cain said. The woman “seemed like she was in a daze” and lost, she said. The woman asked where Walmart was. Cain said the woman was wearing a Walmart shirt and said that she was going to work.

Instead of trying to give directions, Cain offered to drive her the five minutes to the store. While driving, Cain learned the woman’s name was Britney.

Cain said she never considered that Britney could be the mother of the child she would later find.

Police find mother at Walmart

North Myrtle Beach Police and Fire departments, as well as EMS, responded to the scene.

The baby, who was believed to have been born within 24 hours of it being found, was transported to the hospital, North Myrtle Beach Police Officer Patrick Wilkinson said during a press conference Aug. 7. The baby was born premature but is in stable condition, he said. There were no signs of abuse on the baby, Wilkinson said.

The infant’s mother, Britney Wheatle, 21, was arrested on charges of a person who has custody of a child and places that child at risk, harm or abandons.

Officers went to Walmart where they found Wheatle and she confessed that she had abandoned the child.

It appears she gave birth at her apartment on Second Avenue. The mother also was transported to the hospital for treatment and then arrested, Wilkinson said.

Wheatle was given a $10,000 bond and is still in the J. Reuben Long Detention Center as of Aug. 10. She could face up to 10 years in prison for the felony charge.

Program brings thousands of international students to area

Wheatle is from Jamaica and was living in North Myrtle Beach as part of the J-1 visa program that allows people from other countries to come to the U.S. for a work- and study-based exchange program.

More than 3,000 international students come to the Grand Strand area each summer, often beginning in May, to work under the U.S. Department of State’s program.

Kathy Winfree is a J-1 visa sponsor and has been involved with the J-1 program in the Myrtle Beach area for eight years. She often deals with housing issues, helping with housing and making relationships with landlords.

The program is offered in resort areas throughout the U.S., she said.

Participants sign up for the program through corporate sponsors and then there are other sponsors that help them find local housing and businesses to work at, according to Amy Vicks, the community engagement officer with the North Myrtle Police Department. Vicks works closely with the J-1 program in the city, offering orientations for the participants on things they need to know to work and live in the area, such as getting a Social Security card.

She does not remember Wheatle coming through the orientations, but added that the time-frame when participants arrive in the area is sometimes staggered.

There is also a J-1 liaison who is the point of contact for participants in case they need transportation, get injured or have other issues, Vicks said.

Winfree said visa sponsors have a lot of paperwork and things they need to make sure participants know and understand when coming to the U.S.

Winfree declined to provide the name of Wheatle’s sponsor, adding, “It is a delicate time. There’s a lot of things that need to be investigated and finalized … for the visa sponsor, for Britney and for the city.”

The program is trying to handle the situation both legally and emotionally, Winfree said.

“This is the first time we have ever had something like this happen in this area,” she said.

It appears that Wheatle was already pregnant when she came to the U.S. and may not have known she was pregnant until at least July. It is unclear if Wheatle told anyone in the program of her situation.

“We have laws in place to prevent this type of thing,” Winfree said.

Winfree said she was glad that the North Myrtle Beach Police Department is telling the community about Daniel’s Law, which allows a person to surrender their child to a safe haven location.

With the exchange visitors, their laws are different from those in the U.S., Winfree said.

“We really have to learn to promote our laws,” she said.

Moving forward, Vicks said the J-1 orientations, in addition to bicycle and beach safety and human trafficking, will include information about the law, that “there’s a safe place to bring the baby” if someone does get pregnant.

Law helps protect babies

Since 2009, there have been 60 babies, which includes four as of July 12, that were surrendered in South Carolina under Daniel’s Law. It was signed into law in 2001 according to the South Carolina Department of Social Services.

A baby was surrendered under the law in Georgetown County in 2018, according to DSS. The baby girl was born and surrendered at Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital. It doesn’t appear that any babies have been surrendered under the law in Horry County based on information from 2009 through now published on the DSS’ website.

The law, named for an infant boy who survived after being buried in a landfill soon after his birth, allows a person to surrender their unharmed newborn baby up to 60 days old at a safe haven location. Safe havens are a hospital or hospital outpatient facility, law enforcement agencies, fire stations, emergency medical services stations or a house of worship during the time the church or synagogue is staffed.

There have been questions about whether the baby girl found in North Myrtle Beach can be adopted.

However, according to an Aug. 10 email from Danielle Jones, public information coordinator for the South Carolina Department of Social Services, questions about the potential adoption of the infant “are not appropriate at this time.”

Jones said that social services is working alongside local law enforcement in the investigation of the case. The infant is the NICU at Grand Strand Medical Center, Jones said in the email.

“In regards to adoption of the infant in question, the agency is currently working to locate and make contact with other family members, including locating the father,” Jones said by email.

Jones said the agency wants to remind the public about Daniel’s Law. “This unfortunate situation could have absolutely been avoided,” Jones said.

Baby near bush for about an hour

Cain hopes that there is more education about the law.

While Cain understands that Wheatle didn’t consider human decency when she abandoned her baby, she also doesn’t know what her mindset was and whether she even knew about Daniel’s Law.

Cain estimates the baby was there for about 40 minutes to an hour before she found her.

Cain credits the police, fire, detectives and rescue crews who came and got the baby and took care of her.

But she still feels a great sadness about the young mother, wondering if she had anybody to help her.

Cain wonders what she would’ve done if Wheatle asked “can you help me” or would have given her the baby instead of leaving it on the ground that evening. “I wish she would have asked,” she said.

But what she does know is that there needs to be more education about the law, and that she is thankful she did find the child.

“I give God all the glory,” Cain said. “I could have found this baby dead.”