Orange County deputy, K-9 find missing boy with autism in wooded brush
K-9 Jett tracked the boy's scent behind his home, leading the deputy to find him deep in the woods.
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An 11-year-old Orange County boy with autism who went missing Monday is safe at home, thanks to a sheriff’s K-9 team who found the frightened child in the woods nearly two hours after he went missing.
Deputy Brian Berger and the department’s K-9, Jett, found the missing child hiding and frightened in thick, wooded brush in a backyard on Washington Avenue in Montgomery.
Berger says Jett’s keen tracking ability quickly zeroed in on the boy’s whereabouts.
“{Jett} got down there and had a distinct change in behavior,” recalls Deputy Berger. “He kind of pulled me to the wood line.”
Authorities say the child left his house without his mother knowing around 5:40 a.m. Berger was called to the scene around 7 a.m., after the Orange County Sheriff’s Office received a request for K-9 assistance from Village of Montgomery police.
Berger says after the child was found he was immediately reunited with his mother.
“I was super happy. I had my partner bring him to his mom,” Berger says.
The Deputy and 3-year-old Belgian Malinois have worked together doing explosive detection, tracking and evidence recovery at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for two years and recently obtained national odor recognition from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives.
The duo has aided dozens of searches, but this one had high stakes and hit close to home.
“I have kids of my own, so I instantly put myself in those parents’ situation,” says Berger.
Not all searches are a success, and the deputy says about only 4% end up with a find – let alone a positive outcome. He credits their recent success to teamwork and Jett’s nose.
“Probably one of my most rewarding days in police work so far and I’ve been doing this almost 10 years,” Berger says.
The boy’s mother didn’t want to be on camera but says she’s forever grateful to Berger and Jett for finding and bringing home her son.
