300+ volunteers on foot and horseback find a 6-year-old boy with autism safe after 2 nights in Kentucky woods
Roman Heilman walked out of the brush with his dog onto a horse trail, about a mile and a half from home.
- Missing since 1 November
- Found about 1.5 miles from home
- Teams came from three states
The search
Six-year-old Roman Heilman, who has autism, went missing near Louisa in Lawrence County, Kentucky, on 1 November. More than 300 volunteers joined state police, the National Guard and rescue crews from West Virginia and Ohio, using horses, drones and vehicles in hilly woodland. Searchers even sang 'If You're Happy and You Know It', a song he responds to, hoping to draw him out.
The rescue
On Tuesday morning he stepped out of the bushes onto a horse trail with his small dog, pointed at the horses and said 'E-I-E-I-O'. He held on tightly to the leg of the lead rescuer. He was scratched and dehydrated after two cold nights outdoors but otherwise doing well, and was taken to hospital for a check. The local emergency chief called it 'nothing short of a miracle'.
