Missing 2-Year-Old Boy Found Burrowed Under Leaves, Father Detained: Reports

A police car in a file photo. Pixabay

A missing 2-year-old boy was found safe and well after he was reported missing on the morning of May 10, according to reports.

Aries Washington reportedly wandered away from a vacant home in the 8400 block of Melville Street. He and his father were walking to McDonald’s when it started raining, according to a reporter from Local 4 WDIV. The pair decided to avoid the rain on the porch of the empty house. During that time, the father fell asleep and when he woke up his son had disappeared.

Police told Click on Detroit that Aries was found wearing a thick winter coat. He had burrowed himself under leaves in an area near where he was reported missing. He was found, after police canvassing, about 3 hours since he was reported missing.

He has been transported to the hospital. Authorities did not say whether the 2-year-old has any injuries but did tell the news station that he was a little cold.

They have detained the boy’s father for questioning and are investigating how the boy became missing.

In a similar case, a 3-year-old boy wandered off from his parents for at least three hours and found outside a 7-Eleven in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, reported ABC News.

The boy’s parents were subsequently charged with child endangerment and recklessly endangering the welfare of a child and appeared in court for their arraignment on May 8.

Police said at the time the boy disappeared his mother was asleep, while his father was cooking. It is unclear how the boy got away.

The boy and his four other children from the house are currently placed in their grandmother’s custody.

Neighbor John Allen told ABC News that it was hard to believe this could happen to the family as the parents seem to be decent people.

“I don’t know how he even got out of the house,” Allen told the news station.

“I understand she might be sleeping cause she works night work, so that’s the part that’s mind-boggling.”

According to the FBI, there were over 424,000 National Crime Information Center entries of missing children in 2018.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said they have assisted law enforcement in more than 25,000 cases in 2018. Of those, four percent of cases are family abductions, while 92 percent are endangered runaways.