Missing boy found
More than 50 volunteers aided emergency crews in locating the missing 12 year old
LAKE COUNTY >> The search for 12-year-old Austin Maloney, who according to local authorities went missing Sunday afternoon in South Lake County, ended successfully Monday afternoon officials said. LCSO deputies were joined by various emergency and law enforcement agencies including the California Highway Patrol, CAL Fire, Mendocino County Search and Rescue teams, and the Mendocino Sheriff Department’s K-9 unit among others. Also involved in the search were a throng of more than 50 community volunteers Monday, including relatives and the boy’s mother Bo Darnell.
Sheriff Brian Martin said the boy was located by civilians driving side by side utility vehicles. The community members called
out to Maloney and coaxed him back to safety. “We think there was an argument with the family,” said Martin in regards to why the boy may have wandered away from home, “But it’s a good outcome, he seemed to be in good spirits and healthy.”
Martin went on to praise the community volunteers who were instrumental in finding the boy. Martin said he was thankful for the community outreach including members of the Middletown Unified School District who came out to help emergency crews. “I saw a whole bunch of people I have never met and probably will never see again,” he said thanking the several dozen citizen volunteers.
CAL Fire helicopters from Boggs Mountain Helitack Base arrived on the scene mid Monday afternoon, once they were given the all clear to join in with an aerial rescue search which they had not attempted earlier due to unsafe, foggy conditions.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office had previously reported that Maloney was last seen leaving a residence off Jerusalem Grade in Lake County (at 3:30 PM Sunday) The boy had been seen wearing a black sweatshirt, blue jeans, orange hat, and sketchers shoes. He is described as 5’1, 77 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.
Bob Minenna, on the scene for the Record-Bee, reported law enforcement said that earlier in the day, officials had advised people wishing to join the search that they should let loved ones know they were in the area participating in the search and that they should avoid trespassing.
Law enforcement had also discouraged people from venturing into the search area if they were not driving four-wheeldrive equipped vehicles, as they risked getting stuck in roads which had seen a good amount of rainfall overnight Sunday into Monday morning.