KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Decades after a baby boy was kidnapped from St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood, the now-grown U.S. Marine met the FBI agent who saved his life.
On Friday, Cpl. Stewart Rembert put his arms around Troy Sowers in Knoxville, Tennessee, 22 years after the agent found the abandoned baby.
Upon their reunion, Sowers told Rembert he was “thankful that we found you alive.”
Two days after Rembert was born in 1997, the baby boy was kidnapped by a woman who claimed to be a health care worker. More than 24 hours later, Sowers found Rembert -- abandoned -- in a box behind a dumpster.
“I pulled a baby out of a box,” Sowers remembered on Friday. “That was tough. I had to take a couple deep breaths before I started talking.”
“Without him, I wouldn’t be where I am today, a U.S. Marine,” Rembert added.
Rembert's kidnapping was one of Sowers' first cases with the FBI.
On Friday, he retired while standing next to the now-grown man who's living proof of his career's lifelong impact.
“I think it’s the perfect bookend,” Sowers said. “To end, seeing him again, it really just puts the final touch to a career.”
Rembert told Sowers, “I wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity of a life.”
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