Marine kidnapped as baby reunites with rescuer 22 years later

A reunion outside the Knoxville FBI headquarters was the second time Stewart Rembert and Troy Sowers have met.

Rembert doesn’t remember the first time, reports WVLT, but FBI Special Agent in Charge Sowers will never forget that day.

Rembert was two days old in 1997 when he was kidnapped from a Washington state hospital by a woman claiming to be a nurse.

It was one of Sowers’s first cases with the FBI. He found baby Rembert in a box behind a dumpster.

“I pulled a baby out of a box,” he recalled. “That was tough. I had to take a couple deep breaths before I started talking.”

Rembert was then reunited with his family. The kidnapper pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

After graduating high school, Rembert joined the Marines and is now stationed at Camp Lejeune.

"Without him, I wouldn't be where I am today, a United States Marine," he said.

Friday was Sowers’s last day with the FBI. He ended his career with one of the first people he started it with. Cpl. Rembert surprised Sowers at his retirement party.

“I think that is the perfect bookend,” Sowers said. “I think to end seeing him again, it really just puts the final touch to a career.”

Cpl. Rembert waited 22 years to thank Sowers in person.

“All of this wouldn’t have happened if you wouldn’t have found me. I wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity of a life,” said Rembert.