“He just walked right out of the bushes onto a horse trail.” That’s how one rescuer in Kentucky described the moment he spotted 6-year-old Roman Heilman, a boy with autism missing for 3 days.
Jacob Mullins, a member of a local horse trailriding group, told the Lexington Herald Leader that he was only about a half-mile from Heilman’s home when he suddenly climbed out of a bush followed by a small dog, and and sang “Old McDonald.”
Heilman then grabbed onto the leg of the lead rescuer and didn’t want to let go.
He had been reported missing in the late afternoon on Sunday, November 1st, and the volunteers had been out since first light on Tuesday, looking around the wooded and mountainous area for hours, covering some 14 miles.
1 of 10 members of a horse trailriding group who live either side of the Kentucky-West Virginia state line, Jacob Mullins told the Lexington Herald Leader about the moment that the hunters became the hunted.
“We found him probably about a mile and a half from his house. He came out of the bushes saying ‘E-I-E-I-O horsey.’ He just walked right out of the bushes onto a horse trail,” Mullins remembered.
“He was naked, and he was scratched, and he had a little dog with him. He ate a banana and drank some water and then we brought him off the hill.”
Roman is autistic, and when it was reported to police that he had wandered away from his house into the woods, “hundreds” volunteered to aid in the search. This included other teams on horseback, drones, but also motor vehicles, which Mullins thought perhaps had scared the boy from being found earlier.
Rescue authorities had received information on Sunday that the child had removed his clothing at some point, making the situation even more concerning. Indeed, he would have spent two frigid nights in the woods.
Travis Hughes, Director of Lawrence County Emergency Management, put out a heartfelt statement following the rescue on Facebook, in which he said he had “never been more proud” of the community.
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“What happened over the course of this search was nothing short of a miracle, and I praise God for that,” said Hughes. “It was also an incredible, overwhelming effort from so many people who came together with one common goal.”
“I have always said that when something happens here in Lawrence County, our people come together. But what I witnessed during this search was truly something special.”
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