CRAVEN COUNTY, NC —Days after the launch of a massive search for a missing 3-year-old boy that included the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Marines based in eastern North Carolina, Casey Lynn Hathaway was found alive Thursday night, according to reports.
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The boy was found alert and entangled in briars around 9 p.m. Thursday evening about 40 yards in a wooded area after authorities received a tip about a crying child, WCTI reported. Casey was calling for his mother when rescuers reached him.
Hathaway, 3, was reported missing from his grandmother’s residence in Ernul, North Carolina around 2 p.m. Jan. 21. He had been playing with two other children, but could not be found when they came inside.
The Craven County Sheriff’s office said Thursday night on Facebook: “We found Casey alive and he is safe with his family, getting the medical care his little body needs. Thank you to the entire Craven County community, to our law enforcement partners, and especially to our dedicated search and rescue professionals. We found Casey!”
Professional search and rescue crews located the youngster off Toler and Aurora Roads. He was evaluated by doctors at Carolina East Medical Center.
He is described as having blonde hair, brown eyes and is 28-inches tall, according to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
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The Craven County Sheriff’s Office urged residents to check their storage sheds, vehicles and property for signs of the missing child. Wednesday morning, hundreds of searchers had volunteered to search for the little boy, WCTI reported.
“We are doing everything we can to find this child, utilizing all resources at our disposal and once again, we want these folks in the Cayton Community and the Ernul Community to certainly keep an ear out,” Craven County Sheriff Chip Hughes said, according to the station.
By Wednesday afternoon, the FBI and Marines from nearby Camp Lejeune and Cherry Point had joined the search, according to WLOS.
Up to 500 searchers scoured an area measuring up to a mile, with areas being searched multiple times, according to the Jacksonville Daily News. “It’s crucial that the feds are here, and the State Bureau of Investigation,” Hughes said, the newspaper reported. “There’s no way I could run this thing without them.”
Concern mounted for the child, who Hughes said was not adequately dressed for the mid 30-degree overnight temperatures in the area that has sinkholes and deep ditches, WSOC reported.
Anyone with information about his location is asked to call the Craven County Sheriff’s Office at 252-633-0498, or NCSBI at 919-662-4500.
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Photo via Craven County Sheriff’s Office