A nine-year-old non-verbal and autistic child was found within four hours of going missing, according to the Lapeer County Sheriff’s Office.
The agency reports that deputies were dispatched Monday, June 10, shortly after 2:10 p.m. to Caldwell Road in Goodland Township after the child’s mother reported him missing, with one deputy arriving on scene around 2:20 p.m. to begin an initial search in the boy’s residence. When the boy was not found in the home, the sheriff’s office activated the automated “A Child is Missing” phone notification system, sending calls and texts to all phones within the radius of the boy’s last known location.
The mother advised that the child had a fascination with water, and had been found earlier this year in a pond down the road from his home.
With the tip, the sheriff’s office flooded the area with over 75 searchers, with the agency assisted by the office’s K-9 and dive teams, Lapeer County Search and Rescue, Metamora Township Police Drone Team, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, aviation units from both Michigan State Police and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, Lapeer County EMS and local residents in the search. After three and a half hours of searching, the missing boy was found safe in a wooded area among thick vegetation, with Lapeer County Search and Rescue Specialist Todd Rockwell and search dog Glory finding the child.
The family is new to the area, with the child’s mother expressing gratitude for the kindness and compassion local agencies handled the emergency with. Members of the search team have taken up a collection and ordered the family a GPS tracker for the child, as the mother noted that this type of incident had also happened before.
