Smoky Mountain Journal -Missing Blount County Six Year Old That Was Subject Of TBI Amber Alert Found Safe



The Great Smoky Mountain Journal Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:49 PM

Missing Blount County Six Year Old That Was Subject Of TBI Amber Alert Found Safe
The Blount County Sheriff's Office search for a missing 6-year-old boy in the Top of the World area last seen Monday night Is over with good news. Kaydon Leach was was discovered around 3:25 p.m. Tuesday, about a half mile from his home. Leach was checked out by medical personnel at the scene at around 3:30 p.m. Investigators said he was being taken to Blount Memorial Hospital around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. "We're so thankful to everyone, from local law enforcement agencies to volunteers, who helped us find Kaydon," the little boy's family said in a statement released Tuesday evening. "The amount of support we have received has been tremendous, even from people we don't even know. We appreciate all our friends and neighbors, and ask for privacy at this time." Responders on the scene said Leach had just walked right out of the woods, though the rural terrain had made locating him grueling for investigators. Officials said Leach had disappeared with his dog Monday evening. "The dog was with him, yes," BCSO Chief Deputy Jeff French told Local 8 News after Leach was found Tuesday. "The dog growled at the rescuers when they approached Kaydon, so the dog is a protector." Kaydon was previously last seen at around 6 p.m. Monday near his home on South Hummingbird Drive in Tallassee in the Top of the World community. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued an Endangered Child Alert for Kaydon on Tuesday. The head of Blount County EMS said an IPAWS message was sent out to residents Monday night shortly before 10:30 p.m. A representative with the Blount County Sheriff's Office said crews were out all night searching for the boy since they received the call shortly after 7 p.m. Monday. BCSO said about 100 first responders from local, state and federal agencies helped in the search. "We've had resources out all night, and we are being assisted by the military who searched the area at Top of the World by way of a Black Hawk helicopter with Flir technology," Blount County Sheriff's Office Spokeswoman Marian O'Briant said. "We've also had boots on the ground all night." Crews searched the lake, land and mountain sides, along with several abandoned buildings.