A four-year-old went missing in the woods near his home in Florida, and the police looked for him for hours. Luckily, he and his pouch were successfully reunited with his father.
According to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, 4-year-old Franklin Orwig III, better known as Frankie, disappeared from his home at roughly 9 a.m. on Friday, February 10. He had been playing in a private driveway at the intersection of Burgess Avenue and Quarno Road.
Frank Orwig, the boy’s father, told reporters that he dozed off while his son was playing iPad games inside the house. When he woke up from his nap, he realized that the youngster was missing.
Orwig claimed he only slept for 35 minutes and that upon awakening, he searched high and low but could not locate Frankie.
He quickly notified police, and a search and rescue mission was launched to find the missing child. While a helicopter scanned the sky for the missing youngster, members of the County’s Child Abduction Response Team combed the ground.
The father and the neighbors became increasingly concerned for the child’s well-being as the hours passed.
Patricia Wilson, one of the neighbors who helped in the search, expressed concern for little Frankie’s safety due to the presence of ponds and railroad tracks in the dense woods.
Finally, the pilot and tactical flying officer spotted some movement in the wooded area and realized it was the boy. Sheriff Wayne Ivey said they alerted the ground search team and led rescuers to the location of the missing child.
About a third of a mile from his house, the search party located the missing child. He sustained no injuries, and the police reported discovering him with the family dog, Rufus, who waited by his side until help arrived.
According to Orwig, the family dog is really devoted to the youngster. Videos of the rescue and the emotional reunion between father and son were shared by the sheriff’s office on social media.