Tallassee, Tenn. — The little boy who was lost for almost an entire day in the woods near his home is recovering with his family.
Kaydon Leach, 6, was the focus of an intense 22-hour search after he disappeared from his house in the Tallassee community of Blount County Monday afternoon.
According to the incident report from the Blount County Sheriff's Office, the boy had been to East Tennessee Children's Hospital on Monday to be treated for an upper respiratory infection.
Alexis Herrod, who was watching Kaydon, told investigators she and Kaydon were in the backyard of the home when they returned from the hospital, and Kaydon wanted a temporary tattoo.
She said she went inside to get a wet washrag, and when she came back outside, Kaydon and three pet dogs were missing.
Herrod told investigators that she walked all of the connecting roads, but couldn't find him. She called 911 about an hour after he went missing.
Two of the dogs returned to the house, but the third, a small black and white rat terrier, did not.
An intensive search effort of 2,000 acres of mountainous terrain started with several agencies involved, including K-9 teams and a search helicopter from the Army National Guard.
Kaydon spent a cold and rainy night outside while crews worked themselves to exhaustion to find him.
Finally, at 3:35 p.m. Tuesday, the news everyone was waiting for came.
A group of Blount County fireman were searching the woods about a half mile from Kaydon's home when one of them heard a small voice say, "Hey."
The boy, with a protective little dog named Chula by his side, had been found.
Kaydon was cold, but didn't appear to have any visible injuries. He had been alone for more than 22 hours when the search team found him.
The rescue team piled two or three adult jackets on the 6-year-old's 4-foot frame before giving him a piggyback ride up the mountain to the road.
He was taken to Blount Memorial Hospital to be checked out, and was released later that evening.
Kaydon's family has requested privacy, but released a statement thanking everyone for their efforts to find the little boy.
We still don't know why Kaydon wandered away from home.