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Last updated on Thursday, December 21, 2017
(VAN BUREN TWP) - A 6-year-old boy was found cold, but safe early Saturday morning after his parents woke up to find a window open and his bed empty.
Suzannah Couch of the Brown County Democrat reports that just before 4 a.m., the child's parents called 911 to report him missing from a home in the 8000 block of Heathers Pass, on the far southeast side of the county.
The child had opened a window and climbed out, according to Brown County Sheriff's Deputy Joe Jackson. The parents said they had no idea what time the boy had left the home, which was in a heavily wooded area with long driveways and ponds.
The child had gone to bed wearing a red T-shirt, tan pants and no socks. The temperature was around 32 degrees that morning, Jackson reported.
Police began driving up and down the gravel drives with their red and blue lights flashing and spotlights on, thinking the boy might be attracted to the lights, the police report said.
The parents and some neighbors had already been out looking in the woods before police arrived, and police asked them to come out of the woods so they wouldn't cover the child's tracks before a K9 officer could get there.
Eight Southern Brown County volunteer firefighters came to help search, said Assistant Chief Evan Johnson. Terry Miller was stationed at the end of Heathers Pass directing searchers to the house to get the briefing and to stay out of the woods until a search began.
When firefighter Brad Lovins drove up, he rolled his windows down to speak with Miller and heard what he thought was a child.
About an hour into the search, Lovins, Terry Miller and firefighter Ben Miller found the child sitting on a neighbor's porch, about 200 yards from the home. The boy was taken to a nearby ambulance were he was warmed up and then released to his parents.
The Bartholomew County Sheriff's Department and firefighters from Southwest Bartholomew County Volunteer Fire Department also assisted at the scene.
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