Found safe: Missing toddler rescued near home

Greg Jordan, Bluefield Daily Telegraph, W.Va.
·3 min read

Mar. 4—ROCK — After law enforcement, volunteers and neighbors turned out to help, a missing child was found safe Wednesday after a search lasting almost two hours along Cabin Branch Road in Mercer County.

Mercer County 911 was alerted about 10:12 a.m. that a 2-year-old boy had gotten out his home and could not be found, according to Sheriff Tommy Bailey. The blond boy was wearing a diaper and it was believed that a dog was with him.

Members of the Mercer County Sheriff's Department, West Virginia State Police Princeton detachment and the Matoaka Volunteer Fire Department were dispatched to the scene. A bloodhound was requested as well.

The child's mother, Alyssa Robertson, called out her son's name, Malikiah, from the road while neighbors walked along Cabin Branch Road calling out his name as well. Bailey advised them not to go into the forest so any tracker dog would not get confused. Other volunteers soon arrived in four-by-four vehicles to help.

Detective-Sergeant S.A. Sommers with the Mercer County Sheriff's Department said later that the mother explained how her son had recently learned to use a doorknob, and that she had ordered hardware to keep him from leaving the house.

Neighbors and volunteers from outside the area searched through the woods and the surrounding neighborhood until the dog, a pit bull named Rex, appeared outside the home just before Malikiah was found. Soon neighbors and volunteers alike were shouting with joy as searchers carried Malikiah down the hillside.

"Is my baby OK?" Alyssa Robertson cried.

"He's fine! He's OK!" one of the volunteers called back.

"God is so good!" she proclaimed to all.

Worried volunteers and members of law enforcement were quickly smiling with relief.

"I wanted to cry and he's not mine," one woman said.

Bailey said the child had some scratches and was cold, but otherwise was fine. He was checked by members of the Princeton Rescue Squad.

The search concluded about 12:21 p.m.

Volunteers with the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) found the child near the top of the hill behind his home.

"We were all the way at the top," CERT volunteer Daniel Roland said, who added that Senior Trooper K.A. Filer was with him. "We were about to circle back down and we heard the baby cry. He was just standing there. The dog was with him, but the dog took off when we went there."

Roland pointed out the slope's steep grade. While the distance to the top was around 400 to 500 yards, the walk seems a lot further.

"If you walk it, it's about 5 miles," he said.

Bailey thanked the neighbors and public for their help as well as the first responders and members of CERT. The search was the second time the CERT team of volunteers had been called out to help with an emergency.

"The county commission approved the CERT team, Bailey said. "And they are just for situations like this."

More volunteers were in route when the search came to a successful conclusion. Besides the Matoaka Volunteer Fire Department, the Bluestone Valley Volunteer Fire Department, Bluewell Volunteer Fire Department, Princeton Volunteer Fire Department and every other fire department in the county were in the process of sending personnel, Sommer said later.

Citizens were bringing their ATVs to the scene and one civilian was getting ready to bring an aerial drone, Sommers added. The West Virginia State Police was preparing a helicopter. People from Mercer County Home Confinement, Mercer County Animal Control and the Mercer County Litter Control officer participated in the search.

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com