Bakery owner sees business boom after she rescues toddler

Business is booming at Mini’s Cupcakes in Salt Lake City thanks to owner Leslie Fiet’s new-found hero status.

Around 5 p.m. on February 4, Fiet was working in her bakery’s kitchen when an Amber Alert flashed on her cell phone: A black SUV had been stolen with a 2-year-old girl named Bella sleeping in the back seat.

Fiet remembered seeing a black SUV parked outside her shop. She had assumed its owner was shopping at a store next door.

“After I got the message I looked out my door and saw the SUV but there was no license plate on the front,” Fiet told ABC News. “I went to the other side and saw the license plate and thought, ‘Oh, my hell.’”

Sure enough, Fiet spotted a crying little girl in the vehicle.

“My initial thought was to call 911 but then I looked closer and saw Bella was in a tremendous amount of stress, hyperventilating and crying,” Fiet said. “I just dropped my phone and ran out the door.”

Fiet dove through the car’s open window, anticipating that the car thief might return any moment.

"I didn’t know if there was anybody around or if there was another person in the car, but I just heard this little girl crying and so my first thought was I had to get her out of there and get her in the store, where it was safe," Fiet told KUTV.

Fortunately for both Fiet and Bella, the suspect had already abandoned the vehicle.

Fiet hurried Bella into her shop and locked the door. No one else was allowed to enter the shop except for a regular customer Fiet knew well, who is a nurse, whom Fiet asked to call 911.

Fiet gave Bella some books and a stuffed Care Bear to hang on to as she waited for help to arrive.

Eventually a plain-clothed officer arrived. Determined to keep Bella safe, Fiet verified his badge number with a 911 officer before letting him in.

Within 45 minutes, the police chief arrived on the scene with Bella’s family.

“It was a whole lot of thank you’s and hugs,” Fiet said of the meeting. “I don’t think you can even talk at that point.”

“The relief of knowing your child is safe and that nothing has happened to her, what else can you say? You’re just in tears.”

The next day, Fiet returned to work to find a long lineup at her shop.

“I’m getting lines and lines and I can’t bake and frost fast enough and I’m like, ‘What is going on?,’” Fiet told ABC News. “Then someone said, ‘They said what you did on the radio and said to come down and support you.”

Some of Fiet’s friends took the day off work to help her manage the crowds.

Her shop has been broken into twice in recent months. The surge of business was a timely one, allowing her to replace a glass door and cash register.

“I don’t even have the words for it,” Fiet said of the outpouring of community support. “How do you describe people being so nice to you when you’re not used to nice people?”

And while the orders keep coming, flowers, cards and notes have been pouring in, too, for the reluctant “hero.”

“I don’t feel that way,” Fiet said of the hero title. “I think I have more of an attitude that I’m grateful to have been in a position to be there for Bella.”

Bella’s parents gave Fiet a charm necklace with the date of Bella’s abduction and angel wings. Fiet hasn’t taken it off since.

The suspect in the case turned herself in. Rosealee Maria Key, 24, has been charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle and child endangerment.

“I feel that we’re going to be connected forever,” Fiet told ABC. “I plan on keeping in touch with Bella’s family and going to her high school graduation.”

First, Fiet wants to make Bella’s upcoming 3rd birthday a special one:

“Many people have expressed an interest in expressing kind words to Bella. Her 3rd birthday is approaching and if you would like to send her a birthday wish for her safe return please send cards to Bella. Care of Mini’s Cupcakes 14 east 800 south, Salt Lake City. UT 84111. Thank you all for your kind words and support for the safe return of a child,” she wrote on Facebook.