A Maine game warden and his tracking dog got help from another tracking team and a trail camera to find a 3-year-old Washington County boy who had been missing for almost 1 ½ hours on Sunday.
Game Warden Alan Curtis and his dog, Sig, found Emmit Holcomb of Roque Bluffs at about 2:35 p.m. on Sunday after the boy had wandered more than a half-mile from his last known location. Eight police, sheriff and fire departments assisted in the search, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Emmit was reported missing after he was last seen playing at the beach near Nepp Point Road. His family called 911 at about 1:15 p.m. Authorities searched the ground near the beach and marine patrol officers searched the bay with several watercraft, according to the statement.
Washington County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Jim Malloy and his search dog found a track and followed the boy’s scent along the beach to a nearby residence, two-tenths of a mile away from his home, before they lost his track. A game camera captured a picture of the boy at the residence at 274 Nepp Point Road, confirming that Malloy was searching in the right area.
Curtis and Sig met Malloy and his dog there, and they agreed to search the densely wooded area west of the shoreline. Sig picked up a scent at about 2:25 p.m., and a little over 10 minutes later, Sig found the boy sitting down resting in the thick woods behind a large overturned tree. He was a quarter-mile into the woods and over a half-mile from the beach where he was last seen.
The boy was tired and had wet feet, but otherwise was in good condition, police said.