AWARE
The missing three-year-old in North Carolina, Casey Hathaway, has been found alive. He was missing for two days in weather that was getting below freezing at night, and he didn’t have winter clothes. But he survived and authorities found him alive on Thursday night, January 24. He had been missing since Tuesday afternoon, January 22.
Not many details are available about what happened and how he was found. However, authorities say that Hathaway is in good health, CNN reported, and he was found in North Carolina. He was found Thursday night in Craven County by a professional search and rescue team. He’s been reunited with his family.
The exact location of where he was found isn’t known as of the time of publication, but authorities did say he was found near his home on Toler Road where he went missing, WBTW reported. He disappeared at 200 Toler Road on the border of Craven and Pamlico counties.
His parents, Brittany and Chris, addressed the media and thanked everyone for helping to search for Casey, WITN reported. The volunteer turnout was so great that at some points, volunteers had to actually be turned away.
His parents said that Casey was doing well, he smiled when he saw his sister, and he wanted to watch Netflix, WITN reported.
Casey was playing with two other children (including his sister) in his grandmother’s backyard when he went missing on Tuesday afternoon. His grandmother realized he was gone when the other children came inside the home and Casey wasn’t with them, ABC 12 reported. Authorities released the 911 call from when Hathaway went missing, KOMO News reported. The transcript describes the call as coming from Hathaway’s great grandmother rather than his grandmother, as other sources have reported. The caller said they looked for him in the woods for about 45 minutes before calling 911.
He was wearing light clothes and a light coat, not winter clothes, which made the search for him that much more urgent. Authorities were also worried because there were a number of deep sinkholes in the region where he disappeared.
This is a developing story. To learn more about what happened, please see Heavy’s story here.