Missing 7-and-8-Year-Old Boys Found Safe

Two boys who went missing in Beltrami County Saturday evening were found safe Sunday morning, according to the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office.

A statement from the sheriff’s office read:

On Saturday, April 16th, 2016 at 7:30 p.m., the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office was notified by Tiffany Sue Smith that her 8-year-old son and his 7-year-old cousin had been missing for about an hour and a half and the family and several neighbors had already been searching for the boys with no luck so far.  It was reported the boys had left the family home located in the 1500 block of Smith Road NW riding a Honda 200 4 wheeler and were last seen behind the parent’s house at around 4:30 p.m. going south toward Lindgren Lake.

Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office, Leech Lake Tribal Police, DNR Enforcement, Minnesota State Patrol, Red Lake Fire Department, Red Lake Tribal Police Department, Bemidji Aviation, ISD 31 Transportation Emergency Bus 99 Bemidji Police Department and friends and relatives spent many hours searching throughout the night.  A CodeRED missing person’s alert was issued by the sheriff’s office and local media notified.

A renewed search effort search began this morning at 8:30 a.m.  with the listed agencies joined by Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, FBI,  Kelliher First Responders, Kelliher Fire Department, North Country First Responders, Red Lake DNR, Lakeport First Responders,  Bemidji Ambulance,  Paul Bunyan Amateur Radio Club, Beltrami County Highway Department,  Beltrami County GIS Department,  Beltrami County Sheriffs Division of Communications, Beltrami County Sheriffs Emergency Management,  Beltrami County Posse, Bemidji Police Department Police Reserves Unit, US Border Patrol and over 340 citizen volunteers joining the search.

Searchers looking in an area north east of “the point last seen” found the four-wheeler caught up in some barbed wire in an old fence line in the woods near the end of Higgins Road NE.  The boys were located at approximately 10:30 a.m. in the 4600 block of Higgins Road NE a distance of approximately 7 miles from where they went missing — in a hunter’s cabin where they sought refuge from the cold during the night.

Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office thanks the hundreds of volunteers who turned out to help with this search.  We also want to thank all of the counties and private agencies that called and offered their support and personnel.

Sheriff Phil Hodapp

Beltrami County Sheriff