ROSCOMMON, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The Roscommon County Sheriff’s Department reports that on Monday, June 12th, deputies were dispatched to a missing child complaint on Woodland Dr. near Snowbowl Road in Roscommon Township. At that time, the child, a three-year-old boy, had been missing from his residence already for at least 20 minutes.

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The child’s mother had been searching and was unable to locate the toddler. This is a very remote area of the county, mostly wooded and swamp. Deputies arrived on scene and began requesting additional resources. Multiple K9 Officers were called to respond, along with a Michigan State Police Drone, and a Michigan State Police Aviation Unit. Neighbors near the child’s residence had already been searching for the child and could not locate him.

Michigan State Police Trooper Adam Whited from the Houghton Lake Post and his K9 partner Loki, were working in the area and responded directly to the scene to immediately begin a track for the toddler. After tracking for over three miles, Trooper Whited and K9 Loki located the missing child who was barefoot, approximately 1/2 mile from the residence in a remote, wooded area. The child had made it past two small marshes, through the woods, north of his residence. The child was alive and in good health when Trooper Whited located him.

Trooper Whited and Loki escorted the young child out of the woods carrying him piggy-back style, to awaiting deputies at the nearest roadway. This tiny explorer was checked-out by Houghton Lake EMS, before being reunited with his mother.

The Roscommon County Sheriff’s Department said that missing children are always very intense investigations with multiple agencies responding and working against the clock, with a goal to ultimately make a joyous unification in the end. The Roscommon Sheriff’s Department wishes to thank all of the agencies and individuals involved in this response including the Michigan State Police K9, Michigan State Police Aviation, Michigan State Police Drone Unit, Houghton Lake Ambulance, Roscommon Township Fire, and the All County Search and Rescue Group who were on standby from around the state.

Loki and his human partner, Whited, also rescued an 80-year-old hunter in November of last year who had gotten lost in a wooded area in Northern Michigan while tracking a deer. K9 Loki tracked down the hunter near the AuSable River’s north branch.  The man reportedly fell into the river several times. The hunter was transported out of the woods by canoe to the Grayling hospital and discharged in good health.

Whited, Loki’s handler, has also previously received the “Kiwanis International Police Officer of the Year Award” in 2020 for rushing into a house and saving an unconscious victim from a fire in 2019.

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