Missing 2-year-old is found safe asleep on pet dog as another stood watch, MI cops say
The family of a 2-year-old girl who went missing is relieved she was found safe with their two family dogs watching over her in Michigan, news outlets reported.
On Wednesday, Sept. 20, Marcus Christy, the toddler’s uncle, told WJMN that the girl had been outside with him while he was pressure washing the family’s Faithorn house and that he had told her to go inside because it was getting dark.
But shortly after, he and the child’s mother, Brooke Chase, noticed that the toddler, Thea Chase, was not in the house, and they immediately started looking for her, according to CNN.
“She is her uncle’s shadow and is constantly with him, that’s why it’s such a shock to us that she left his side,” Chase told WJMN.
Michigan State Police troopers were called to the home around 8 p.m., WLUC reported. Officials used drones and multiple police K9 teams, and search and rescue, police and residents helped look for Thea.
“When we get a call like that, everything else stops,” Michigan State Police Lt. Mark Giannunzio told CNN.
After four hours of searching, a family friend on an ATV came across one of the family dogs and found Thea, CNN reported.
“He went way, way farther than anybody else was searching,” Chase told WJMN. “And she was way out there. He had said that if it wasn’t for the dogs poking out of the trees, he would not have seen her.”
Thea was asleep nearby, using the family’s other dog as a pillow, according to WJMN
“She has those dogs wrapped around her finger,” Chase told CNN.
Thea was checked for injuries and found to be OK, WLUC reported.
Faithorn is in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, just east of the Wisconsin state line.
