Muddy footprint leads searchers to find missing 6-year-old

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A missing 6-year-old was recovered harmless aft going missing for astir 2 days successful agrarian eastbound Kentucky earlier this week.

For 2 days, hundreds of searchers scoured rugged terrain looking for Roman Heilman, who has autism and had past been seen Sunday day adjacent his location successful the tiny municipality of Louisa wearing a plaid greenish overgarment and Crocs.

It was not instantly wide however the lad initially went missing oregon who reported it. Travis Hughes, the Lawrence County exigency absorption director, told CBS News that Heilman was known to play extracurricular and research the woods.

More than 300 volunteers connected ft and horseback — arsenic good arsenic specialized units from Kentucky State Police and the Kentucky National Guard and search-and-rescue crews from West Virginia and Ohio — combed the heavy wooded country astir the timepiece portion helicopters and drones searched from above.

They yet recovered a muddy footprint that led them to Heilman's clothes, including a jacket, pants and a diaper, Hughes told CBS News.

"We knew this kid was without apparel and we knew determination was upwind moving in, raining," Hughes said. "So we wanted to enactment our horseback teams successful determination with the crushed searchers."

Volunteers were told to sing 1 of Heilman's favourite songs, "If You're Happy and You Know It," hoping to gully him retired of the woods.

Then connected Tuesday morning, astir a mile and a fractional from home, Heilman emerged from the brushwood with his dog, bare and covered successful scratches, said Hughes, who besides indicated that the canine was believed to person been with Heilman erstwhile helium went missing.

"He comes retired close down his canine and that's erstwhile helium pointed and said, 'E-I-E-I O,' and pointed to the horses," Hughes said. "And that's erstwhile our squad got up to him and wrapped him up successful a blanket, gave him thing to eat."

Heilman was recovering from dehydration successful an country infirmary arsenic of Wednesday, officials said.

In a societal media post, Hughes praised the broad rescue effort, saying that astatine 1 constituent truthful galore radical stepped guardant to assistance that "we had to inquire further volunteers to clasp disconnected portion we organized the resources we already had."

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