Child Leaves Home on Four Wheeler, Found Safely Hours Later

An eleven year old boy who abandoned the four wheeler he was riding before disappearing into the woods in the Blue Springs area early Saturday morning was found unharmed a few hours later.
The boy took off on a four wheeler from his home on Big Woods Road around 6:45 a.m., according to Sheriff Patrick Ray. The child’s parents heard the ATV start up and went to check. When they saw the boy ride away, the parents gave chase on foot but couldn’t catch him. They reported the incident to the Sheriff’s Department.
The ATV was later found abandoned at the corner of a bean field. The engine was still running. The boy had apparently jumped off the four wheeler and run into the woods.
The Sheriff’s Department then called out members of the Smithville-DeKalb County Rescue Squad to help look for the child.
Joe Johnson told WJLE that he and about fourteen other members of the Rescue Squad conducted a search both by four wheel drive vehicles and on foot. A local pilot also joined the search by air in his Gyrocopter. Sheriff Ray said plans were also to call in a THP helicopter with a fleer heat sensing device but it was not needed.
The boy emerged from the woods around 11:30 a.m. and was spotted by his father walking along Herman Road, according to Sheriff Ray. The child reportedly had on a jogging suit but was not wearing a jacket. He was examined and then taken to the Sheriff’s Department, where a call was placed to Juvenile Court Judge Bratten Cook, II. Upon orders of the judge, the boy was taken to a juvenile detention facility in Rutherford County.