Missing Boys Found Safe

Two boys were reunited with their mother after Wednesday spending the night in a tree stand, according to the sheriff’s office.

The boys were reported missing just before 9 a.m. Wednesday at their home on Country Club Road in Riegelwood, the report said. The mother of the children said she last saw them around 9 p.m. Tuesday. She searched the immediate area, the report said, but did not call 911 until Wednesday morning.

The Columbus Sheriff’s Office Man Tracking Team and detectives immediately began scouring the area.

“Recognizing the urgency,“ the sheriff’s office said in a social media post, “we also called on the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office for support. Fortunately, they were training nearby and quickly responded with their K9 tracking team.”

The mother supplied a “scent article” for the K9 team, and CCSO trackers and Brunswick’s tracking Dog Bayard found the boys approximately a mile from home, in a tree stand. They were not injured. The boys were only wearing pajama pants.

Brunswick also deployed its air assets to assist in the search, but the boys were found before the flight team was needed.

“When it comes to our community,” Sherriff Bill Rogers said, “especially our children, no resource is too great and no team stands alone.”