A 2-year-old boy has been found safe in Florida after he seemingly wandered away from his Hernando County home.
Sheriff Al Nienhuis said the boy wasfound in the woodsjust south of D.S. Parrott Middle School in Brooksville. He is being transported to a local hospital to be checked out, but “appears to be okay.”
“It looked like he was a little scratched up and maybe a little upset,” the sheriff said, later adding, “It’s certainly a miracle.”
J.J.disappeared on Thursdaywhile his parents slept at their home in Brooksville, according to CBS affiliate WTSP.
At a news conference on Thursday, Nienhuis said a relative haddropped the toddler offat his Brooksville home around 9:45 a.m. while his caregiver was sleeping, according to FOX affiliate KTSU.
The toddler disappeared before his mother woke up from her nap, he added.
J.J.’s mother searched for her son for about an hour before informing authorities about his disappearance, the sheriff said. The boy was reported missing around noon that same day.
Hernando County Sheriff’s Office
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Dozens of law enforcement officials from various departments from across the Sunshine State joined in the search for the missing toddler, Nienhuis said Thursday.
Multiple local volunteers participated in the search as well, Nienhuis said.
“The volunteers and the other law enforcement agencies, even the state attorney’s office had people come out and help us,” the sheriff said Friday after J.J. was found.
“To say it was overwhelming was an understatement,” he later added.
Nienhuis said he was “praying for the best” but expecting the worst. Now, he is convinced that “miracles do happen.”
“The people that came together in Hernando County,” the sheriff said Friday, “I can’t even begin to thank them enough.”
source: people.com
