Pine County Sheriff's Office locates missing boy in rural Sturgeon Lake

The Pine County Sheriff's Office located a missing five-year-old boy who was lost in a rural, wooded area of Sturgeon Lake on Friday.

According to a news release, deputies responded to the report of a boy who went missing from his family's campsite around 3:35 p.m. The boy was reported to be nonverbal and on the autism spectrum.

The sheriff's office deployed a coordinated search effort, including a human tracking team, multiple drones, deputies on foot and ATVs, and a deputy commandeering a horse from a nearby property.

Deputies from Project Lifesaver, which provides at-risk individuals with a wearable tracking device, arrived on the scene at 4:21.

At 4:41, deputies safely located the child approximately 3 miles away from where he went missing, and reunited him with his family.

"Every minute counts in a situation like this," chief deputy Scott Grice wrote in the release. "Thanks to the technology of Project Lifesaver, combined with our team's dedication and the incredible community support — including a neighbor's horse — we were able to bring this young boy home safely. This is exactly why we partner with programs like Project Lifesaver."