SENECA, Mo. — A massive search for a missing 6-year-old southwest Missouri boy ends well after rescuers find him huddled in a ditch with his two dogs lying on top of him to keep him warm.
The Joplin Globe reports Ryle Smith followed his dogs, Baxter and Bella, into the woods behind his parents’ Seneca home Friday night and became disoriented and lost after it got dark.,
His parents reported him missing shortly before 6 p.m. Friday after he didn’t return from playing near the house. Several area emergency crews took part in the search.
Ryle was found at 10 p.m. and checked out at a Joplin hospital, where he was found to have no injuries.
The boy’s father said the dogs protected Ryle and wouldn’t have left him for anything.