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Police Helicopter Finds Boy With Autism Missing in Ohio Woods
A 12-year-old boy was rescued from a woods by the Ohio State Highway Patrol in Lawrence County with the assistance of a helicopter on July 10. (Credit:Ohio State Highway Patrol via Storyful)
LAWRENCE COUNTY, Ohio - A 12-year-old boy with autism, who went missing for 11 hours, was spotted and rescued by Ohio State Highway Patrol using its helicopter.
Multiple media outlets identified the boy as Brody Davis of Scottown. He was reported missing July 10 after last being seen along Township Road 74 wearing a white T-shirt, black shorts and no shoes, according to news reports.
Troopers said their flight crew spotted the boy in the woods near his home much later in the day with the help of its helicopter. The crew relayed the GPS coordinates to the ground units, and it took them about 30 minutes to reach the boy.
Officers released the black-and-white surveillance video of the rescue on its Twitter page.
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"Dense vegetation and rough terrain made the search difficult, but the boy was reunited with his family safely," authorities posted. The boy was found with a few scratches, but Lawrence County Sheriff Jeff Lawless said he was "relatively OK," according to the Ironton Tribune.
Authorities haven’t released details on how the boy ended up missing.
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 291 U.S. children on the autism spectrum were reported missing in 2020. During that same year, 54% of children on the autism spectrum reported missing to NCMEC were recovered within one day of being reported missing and 73% were recovered within one week, according to the center.
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The center also provides tips for parents of children with autism, including alerting neighbors and the community in areas familiar to the child, contacting local law enforcement to determine if they administer any programs to help track children in case of a wandering incident, keeping a map of local bodies of water, highways, and other landmarks near the child’s home and school readily available, and having a current photo and child ID available.
This story was reported from Los Angeles.