Missing three-year-old boy located in cornfield with thermal drone

The Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Office and Fond du Lac Police Department used thermal imaging from drones to locate a three-year-old boy who was missing in a large cornfield.

• The boy went missing Sunday evening around 7:30 — he later said he wandered into the cornfield following a cat
• Local authorities responded to the cornfield near the township of Alto around 8:50 p.m. and used the thermal drone to locate and rescue the boy within an hour
• Officials from both agencies say the drone saves time, money and manpower, as otherwise, the search would have required a helicopter or large search party
• Video shows the officers moving toward and finding the boy in the field

(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)

We're out near the township of Alto, where Sunday after dark, the Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Office says a three-year-old boy wandered out into this cornfield, later saying he was looking for a cat.

Multiple agencies responded and decided they needed a thermal drone to find the boy.

In minutes, the drone showed movement in the middle of the field — and officers started moving toward the boy.

They found the visibly shaken-up boy and brought him home to his parents.

The sheriff's office and police department say, without the drone, the search could have taken hours, or not had the same happy ending.

"This is really the quintessential call of 'We're out there for public safety,'" Sheriff's Lt. Alex Volm said. "We want to help locate this child.' This tool was so useful in that, and just saved us a ton of time and a ton of resources."

"With us being able to use this technology in very short order, in less than an hour, it enabled us to keep the search area a little bit smaller, said Scott Krause, FDL police's assistant chief of operations. "And in this situation, luckily helped us find that young man."

Both the Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Office and Fond du Lac Police have a thermal drone and say they use them to play "adult hide and seek" with suspects, and for cases like this.