Baby girl snatched at Texas Wal-Mart

Nancy Crystal Chavez

ABILENE, Texas (CNN) -- A month-old girl was grabbed out of her mother's van at a Wal-Mart store in Abilene, Texas, on Tuesday by a woman who then fled the scene in a car, police said.

Nancy Crystal Chavez was abducted around 4:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. EDT). Her mother had just placed the baby and her two other children, ages 6 and 2, in the van and had gone to return the shopping cart, according to police.

As she started to return a moment later, she told police she saw a woman taking Nancy, in her infant seat, out of the van and putting her in another vehicle.

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The mother tried to stop the vehicle from getting away and was dragged across the parking lot and slightly injured, police said. Another bystander who tried to stop the car may have broken the passenger side window.

Police described the suspect in the abduction as a white female in her late 20s or early 30s, 5-foot-5-inches to 5-foot-8-inches tall, heavy set with a round face and clear complexion. She had shoulder-length brownish blonde hair with red highlights, possibly bleached, and was wearing a pink short-sleeve shirt.

The suspect's vehicle was described as a late-90s model four-door mid-size car, turquoise in color -- possibly a Buick Skylark or a Pontiac Grand Am.

The baby was wearing a white, bib-type shirt that ties on the sides, with pink-and-white plaid ties, and black shoes. She is 19 inches long and weighs 8 to 9 pounds.

Investigators ask that anyone with information about the case contact the Abilene Police Department at 915-673-8331.

Abilene is about 185 miles west of Dallas.