After all-night search, 2-year-old Arkansas boy found dead

Boy wandered off; body found in hole

A sign at the entrance to the Crossbow Ranch in northwest Madison County. A 2-year-old boy who wandered away from his home at the ranch was found dead Wednesday morning.
A sign at the entrance to the Crossbow Ranch in northwest Madison County. A 2-year-old boy who wandered away from his home at the ranch was found dead Wednesday morning.

A 2-year-old boy who wandered away from his rural Madison County home Tuesday evening was found dead in a hole less than 50 yards from the home Wednesday morning, Sheriff Phillip Morgan said.

Morgan said the boy, whose identity was not released, wandered off from his home at Crossbow Ranch in northwest Madison County about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. His disappearance prompted an all-night search by 100 law enforcement and emergency personnel.

The boy's body was found between 9:30 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, Morgan said.

Morgan said Wednesday that he didn't know how the boy was found. He couldn't say how deep the hole was, only that it was deep enough that the boy could not climb out. He said he did not believe the fall itself caused the boy's death.

Morgan said he did not suspect foul play in the boy's death. The body was being sent to the state medical examiner's office for autopsy.

He said the boy's grandmother, whom he would not identify, had just given the boy a bath and put a diaper on him, the only clothing he was wearing when he was found. He stepped outside the house and was playing with a cat. The next time the grandmother looked around for him, Morgan said, the boy was gone.

The parents called for help, and members of several agencies responded to the call.

Madison County Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Lori McConnell said the Tri-County Search and Rescue was notified and contacted several other agencies under its umbrella in Carroll, Madison and Newton counties to send people and equipment to join the search.

Search and rescue units and fire departments from Washington County sent personnel and equipment to help look for the boy. Also participating in the search, McConnell said, were the Arkansas State Police, the Arkansas Forestry Commission, the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism and the National Park Service.

McConnell said searchers scoured the countryside on foot Tuesday night, and on all-terrain vehicles and horseback. They dealt with varying terrain that consisted of rolling hills, open fields with tall grass, wooded areas, small bluffs and War Eagle Creek.

A helicopter from the Arkansas State Police flew during the night, McConnell said, and used infrared equipment to try to get a heat signature on the boy. Search dogs from Russellville also participated in the hunt for the boy, McConnell said.

State Desk on 08/25/2016

photo

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A map showing the location of Crossbow Ranch.

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