MARQUETTE, Mich. (Michigan News Source)- Conservation officers from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) were able to follow a missing 14-year-old boy’s footprints and find him on Tuesday afternoon in Marquette county. The boy had been reported missing around 4:25 pm and was found safe, but cold and wet, near Foster Creek, south of Marquette a few hours later. 

Conservation Officer John Kamps and probationary Conservation Officer Steve Sajtar were patrolling nearby and immediately began searching the area. The men located a set of footprints and started tracking them. They followed the footprints about 650 yards, until they encountered a person walking who confirmed with the officers that they had seen a boy matching the missing teen’s description heading east a few hours earlier.

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The officers tracked the footprints for over a mile, until the road they were on came to a dead end. The officers then went into swampland surrounding Foster Creek, where the snow measured up to thigh deep on the officers.

“With below freezing temperatures and only a couple hours of daylight left, time was of the essence,” Sajtar said. “We knew the boy was likely cold and wet from the swamp.”

At 6:10 p.m., Kamps and Sajtar found the boy sitting on a snowbank along Foster Creek, wearing only a shirt and pajama pants. Because the boy had fallen into the creek, he had removed his wet shoes and socks and wrapped his bare feet in his jacket to stay warm. He told the officers, “I’m freezing cold.”

The boy had a brief first-aid scan by the officers who noticed that the boy had a loss of pigmentation and numbness in his feet.

Kamps removed his wool gloves for the boy to put on his feet. Confirming the boy could walk, Sajtar helped him put his shoes back on so they could hike out of the woods.

Taking several breaks, the officers helped the boy walk about 275 yards to where an ambulance met them, along Foster Creek Drive, west of U.S. Highway 41. The boy was then transported to the UP Health System in Marquette by EMS where he was treated for cold exposure.

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Because he is a minor, the boy’s name has not been released. 

Kamps has been a conservation officer since 2017 and is assigned to patrol Marquette County. Sajtar graduated from the 2022 Conservation Officer Recruit School Academy and is currently training in Marquette County. Michigan conservation officers are fully commissioned state law enforcement officers who receive specialized search and rescue training. Conservation officers provide natural resources protection, ensure recreational safety, and protect people by providing general law enforcement duties and lifesaving operations in the communities they serve.