GREENE COUNTY — Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story stated the child was 4 years old. The Greene County Sheriff’s Office clarified Friday afternoon that the child was 3 years old.
A three-year-old boy was gone for hours Thursday in Greene County.
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Aerial video from the Ohio State Highway Patrol shows the search for the missing boy.
State troopers assisted the Greene County Sheriff’s Office in searching for the child who disappeared after playing in his backyard.
The child then climbed over a security fence and ran into a cornfield west of his home, according to a spokesperson for the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
OSHP Aviation arrived on the scene and located the missing approximately 500 yards away from the house, the spokesperson said.
Pilots then guided ground units to his location where he was safely reunited with his family.
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NewsCenter 7′s Taylor Robertson spoke with Greene County Sheriff Scott Anger on Friday.
He showed her a map that shows where the three-year-old went after he ran away from his babysitter in a backyard on Federal Road.
“I think I may have located him,” an OSHP trooper said in a helicopter as the three-year-old was spotted walking through a field.
“They were crucial in us finding the young boy,” said Sheriff Anger.
Greene County Dispatch got a call around 6 p.m. Thursday evening about a missing child.
“We got there immediately,” he told Robertson. “We had a command post set up. We tried to get a hold of the parents. We had different fire departments there that were helping us with the search.”
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Sheriff Anger said they found signs of where he had been and started to pick up a trail of where he might have been. They covered a bit of ground.
He also told Robertson the helicopter spotted the boy around 8 p.m. Thursday night.
The boy was missing for about three hours.
Robertson reports the boy crossed U.S. 35, according to the map.
He then crossed into cornfields, walked along a drainage ditch, crossed U.S. 35 a second time, and went into another cornfield before the chopper saw him in a soybean field.
“He was in a dense area,” said Sheriff Anger. “And at one point, he had no shoes on. So, it was critical that we found him. Once he got into the beans and not into the high corn, the pilot was able to spot him, which was critical.”
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Sheriff Anger said it was great for everybody the moment they saw the child alive.
“Everybody was so exhilarated that we found this young boy because you know, all the different possibilities.”
Anger told Robertson he was with the boy’s parents when troopers saw him.
“Just to see how happy they were, and just can’t say enough about the public,” he said. “The public was out helping, the farmers. Everybody was dropping everything that they were doing to look for this boy and it was great to see the spirit of cooperation.”
Robertson reports the boy had a few bumps and scratches, according to Sheriff Anger. But was in good spirits and the family doctor checked him out.
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