Young boy and dog recovering after going missing for 16 hours

HOPKINS COUNTY, Ky. (WEHT) — A young boy and his dog are recovering this week after being lost in the woods for 16 hours.

“We are just glad to have him back,” says Jessica Boyken.

Boyken says it started as a normal school night. She was finishing her homework Monday night and her sister was napping, when they noticed something was off.

“The next thing we know he took off in the woods. He said that he saw hoppy things, which we later learned were bunnies,” says Boyken.

Boyken says her little brother, Waylon, a 4-year-old with autism went missing Monday evening with the family’s four dogs.

“He is so little and it was so cold that night,” Boyken says.

Boyken says the response was overwhelming. Friends and family members joined the police and began searching.

“A lot of people on that small road, it was crazy,” says Boyken.

He was found 16 hours later in a dry creek bed near Highway 41, nearly 3 miles away from the family’s home. The young boy was taken to the hospital, covered in cuts and bug bites. All of the dogs suffered minor injuries, except for one. Boyken initially thought Rowdy, the family’s collie, died while protecting her brother.

“Our stepbrother was carrying him and said he stopped breathing. And we went back out today for his body and he was gone. And my mom saw him in our driveway right in front of our car,” Boyken says.

Boyken says they rushed Rowdy to the vet, believing he was attacked by coyotes. Initially, she says she was not sure they would be able to afford the treatment. Then the Hopkins County Humane Society decided to volunteer to help, by paying the medical bill.

“It is wonderful. Vets are expensive,” says Boyken,

Boyken says her brother is recovering well, and hopes to have Rowdy back home soon.

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