| Missing 5 Year Old Autistic Boy | ||
| Teller County, Colorado El Paso County Search and Rescue/Rocky Mountain Trackers The Teller County Search and Rescue’s Incident Commander initially requested search dogs to assist them after a 5 year old autistic boy, described as a “runner”, ran away from his home at approximately 1700 hours. The home was located on a large wooded property, and adjacent to several square miles of wilderness. Two air scent dog teams and one trailing team initially responded and searched throughout the night, without being able to locate him. Numerous SAR members of that county, and National Guard volunteers, also spent the night searching for the boy. The next morning, May 3rd, additional assistance was requested from El Paso County Search and Rescue (EPCSAR) and other SAR teams. At approximately 6 a.m., I reported as part of a tracking team from EPCSAR. We immediately interviewed a family friend that was speaking for the family and found out information that had not previously been known. The new information was that the child had last been PHYSICALLY seen in the sandbox outside the main door of the home. It had been thought that the child was actually last seen near the fence of the yard. With that new information, we were able to record the tread pattern and size from a clear shoeprint left in the sandbox by the missing subject, the day prior. After passing a copy of the print to the Command team, we cut for sign around the perimeter of the home/fence line. Finding that too many searchers has been close to the home, we moved well outside what we considered the most contaminated area. Upon cutting into a drainage that ran west of the property, a clear footprint matching the subject's was located. After tracking the sign for about 100 yards, that direction of travel was radioed to the IC. Continuing to follow the sign west, it was obvious in places that the child would get tired and sit down for a few minutes. Another characteristic noticed was that for a few steps before a direction change, the child would drag his feet, and then change his direction. That gave the tracking team the clue to be on the lookout for a new direction when the drag marks were observed. After approximately ¾ of a mile, the tracks changed direction once again and came out of the drainage and headed north. It was at a popular intersecting point where all the previous searchers in the area would gather, and move off in their respective directions. The prints could not be located within that area, so we signcut around that contaminated area as well. While signcutting that area to find the child’s exit point, a radio call came in that his shoes had been located next to a creek, 1/4 mile north of our position. We immediately headed that way, and upon reaching the shoes were able to tell by his prints in the gravel that he headed west again, wading in the creek. The sediment at the bottom of the clear creek was disturbed wherever he had waded, so we were able to follow his tracks in the creek another dozen yards or so. At one spot, there was a clear print in the algae that showed he had turned around and headed back up the creek. As we observed the tracks coming back east and then south out of the creek on the hillside, one of the EPCSAR dogs (Aspen) alerted to the area we were tracking on the hillside. At that point, a resource just arriving on scene was directed to the top of the ridge adjacent to the creek, to see if he could see any sign of the boy as we worked the sign in that direction. Moments later, we heard radio traffic stating that the team sent to the ridge found the child curled up under a tree. He was hungry, but otherwise in good shape after spending over 25 hours in the wilderness. In a short time, he was back in the arms of family. Although our tracking team did not find the subject, without it discovering and maintaining the Direction of Travel, the child may not have been found. During the search, resources were directed to new areas as a result of the evidence being continuously discovered by the tracking team. |
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