RANDALL CHESSER - 7 yo(Autistic) - Willisburg KY

Randall Leon Chesser

WILLISBURG, Ky. -- Rescue crews in Willisburg are searching for a missing 7-year-old autistic boy.Kentucky
State Police said Randall Leon Chesser was last seen about 6 p.m.
Saturday at his family's home at 4482 Lawrenceburg Road.Investigators
said Chesser's family searched for him for several hours before
contacting the Washington County Sheriff's Department. The state police
were called to assist about 1:18 a.m. Sunday.Search parties including agents on horseback, K-9 teams, ATVs and a helicopter were called in to help find Chesser.The
boy was last seen wearing a light blue hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans
and cowboy boots with spurs. He is 4 feet tall, weighs about 40 pounds
with brown hair and brown eyes. He also has a birthmark in the hairline
above his forehead.Investigators said they believe Chesser was not abducted and therefore does not meet Amber Alert criteria.Police
said any hunters who may have a trail camera in the Rock Run Creek area
is asked to review their footage and contact the KSP if anything should
turn up.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the state police at 800-222-5555.
Read more: http://www.wlky.com/news/29296713/detail.html#ixzz1Z0HViwSs

WILLISBURG — After more than two days of searching, two
firefighters found Randall Leon Chesser, a 7-year-old Washington County
boy who had been missing since Saturday.
Randall, who is autistic,was found alive and well off Coulter Lane, about two miles northeast of
the Willisburg fire station and three miles northeast of his house, shortly after 2:30 p.m.
Randall's discovery came on a day when crews significantly intensified efforts to comb the area to find him.
Police expanded the search area and made a plea to nearby residents to
check their property for Randall. The search involved all-terrain
vehicles, search dogs and about 250 people, including volunteers and
state and local authorities, many of whom walked the area.
Randall was found by Chris Goodlett and Montey Kelly, two members of the Mercer
County fire department. The boy was lying near a creek.
"We got down in there and something kept telling us to stay," Goodlett told the
Herald-Leader. "When we found his little boot track in that creek we knew we were onto something."
Goodlett said they had actually passed by Randall, but they went back. He said there were buzzards
flying around, and "that was our sign."
Kelly said he went up to the boy and asked whether "he was OK and he raised up and looked at me."
"I offered him water and crackers and we sat there and ate until everybody showed up," Kelly said.
Goodlett said Randall kept saying "thank you sir, thank you sir!"
When the boy saw his rescuers, the first words out of his mouth were, "I
want to go home," said John A. Settles, Washington County judge-executive.
"We praised God just for the fact that we found him and found him alive," Settles said.
The child was wet but appeared to have no injuries, Settles said. Not a cut or bruise.
Settles said Randall was wearing cowboy boots with spurs.
"When they took them off they poured water out of them. That's how wet he was," Settles said.
Randall was taken by ambulance to a helicopter to be flown to Kosair Children's
Hospital in Louisville as a precautionary measure, said Capt. James
Stephens, commander of KSP post 15 in Columbia.
Minutes before announcing they had found Randall, police had asked the public to "look
under their trailer, look under their house, look in their garage, look
in their old cars, look in their barns, any place where this child may
have wandered to," Stephens said.
The search for Randall had resumed at daylight Monday morning with a mixture of local residents,
concerned citizens and state authorities.
Several searchers who knew Randall offered advice before crews went out.
"He's been out there for two days and he's going to be scared if he sees
you," said Keasha Harmon, who briefed search crews Monday.
Alenna Hamilton, a resource teacher at North Washington Elementary, told
searchers "if you find him, get down on his level and say 'hey buddy,
you want me to take you to momma?'" The search was intense.
Sixty cadets in training to become state police troopers were tapped to join
the search and police said officers expanded the area being searched.
Thirty cadets searched Monday morning, and they were to be relieved by the other 30 in the afternoon.
K-9 units from Lexington scoured the area Monday. State police had made a reverse 9-1-1 call Sunday night
to hundreds of homes within a 27-mile radius of the boy's home at Willisburg.
The large effort paid off.
Asked whether crews faced a higher level of difficulty in locating Randall because he is
autistic, Kevin Devine, emergency management director for Washington
County, said the "biggest thing with him is he might not have hollered
at us. That's why we had to do a very thorough search."
Heather Niewadomski of Willisburg was among about 200 people who helped with Monday's search.
"I've been in this community about 13 years now and everything that happens
in this community is just a group and family effort from a lot of people
who want to help each other," she said. "I want to be a part of the
community and give any help I can."
Devine said "we live in a community that is really close-knit and tight. When you need people for
things they will really help out."

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/09/26/1898067/state-police-expand-search-for.html#ixzz1Z6Iipaf2