A 12-year-old Oklahoma boy whose disappearance prompted a massive search has been found safe just days after his mother and stepfather were arrested on suspicion of child abuse, authorities said.
“After days of searching, after hope and prayer, we can say that the outcome that we were all hoping for has come true,” Hunter McKee, spokesperson for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, said at a news conference on Sunday afternoon.
McKee said the boy was found on Sunday in Caddo County, Oklahoma, near the town of Cement.
Investigators did not comment on the circumstances of how the child ended up in the area where he was found.
The child was given a medical examination, but authorities said he’s in “pretty good shape” and was in “good spirits” when he was located.
McKee said hundreds of people volunteered to help search for the boy, and that he was located around noon local time by members of the United Cajun Navy, a local volunteer search-and-rescue group.
The child was last seen Jan. 2 in Chickasha, which is about 24 miles from where he was found, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
The Chickasha Police Department had issued an endangered missing advisory for the boy.
The child’s mother, Kimberly Cole, and his stepfather, George Cole, were taken into custody on Wednesday on child abuse, child sexual abuse and conspiracy complaints, according to OSBI.
Oklahoma boy
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