Missing 3-year-old Va. boy found safe

Virgilina, Va. — Searchers found a 3-year-old boy who went missing from a Virginia home near the state border Friday afternoon.

Jaylynn Thorpe was found about a half-mile from his babysitter's home along Buckshoal Road in Virginia, near South Boston, early Saturday afternoon, said Capt. Steve Cassada, with the Halifax County Sheriff's Office.

Emergency medical technicians examined Jaylynn and said he appeared to be OK.

Two small dogs, who had also disappeared from the home, were found with Jaylynn and also appeared to be OK, Cassada said.

Jaylynn had gone missing in Virginia's Halifax County, a heavily wooded, rural area north of North Carolina's Person and Granville counties.

Jaylynn was reported missing at 4:30 p.m. Friday and likely spent the night outside in the cold. Cassada said the boy was wearing a jacket and the dogs also probably helped keep him warm.

Several hundred people searched for Jaylynn at one point, including volunteers, local authorities and tracking teams with dogs and helicopters from both Virginia and North Carolina. Virginia State Police dive teams searched shallow ponds.

Searchers focused on a 3-mile radius around the house from which where Jaylynn disappeared. A command center was set up at Grace Baptist Church, at Highway 58 and Buckshoal Road.

“God really protected the boy. We are happy that we were able to help,” Grace Baptist Church Pastor Dave Kline said.