Lakehead family grateful after missing Autistic boy, 10, found after 10-hour search

LAKEHEAD, Calif., — A missing 10-year-old boy with Autism was found early Saturday morning after an exhaustive, hours-long search by area law enforcement officials and volunteers.

The victim, Jeremiah Seuss, spent nearly ten hours lost and wandering, as overnight temperatures dipped into the low 30s. He was eventually found about a mile from his home, after a resident in a secluded and heavily-wooded near Interstate 5 heard Seuss crying for help.

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Shasta County sheriff’s deputies began searching for the missing child around 4 p.m., after concerned family members reported him missing. He was last seen in the 19000 block of Kamloop Rd., wearing jeans and an unknown color shirt along with brown boots. He wasn’t wearing a jacket, according to his family, who said he may have also been with two dogs, described as a brown and white Great Pyrenees mix and a brown and white cattle dog.

California Highway Patrol, Shasta County Search and Rescue volunteers, Office of Emergency Services, a PHI Air Medical helicopter, and others, eventually joined in the search for the missing boy.

Over the next several hours deputies conducted a highly coordinated search, and official radio traffic at the time indicated deputies and others helping with the search checked every street, every known trail, and every place Seuss could have possibly wandered to.

As they searched, officials spoke with countless residents, asking them to be on the lookout for the missing child. Those efforts eventually paid off early the next morning around 1:45 a.m., when SHASCOM received a 911 call from a resident in the 19000 block of Salt Creek Rd. reporting hearing a boy yelling for help.

Seuss was reportedly OK and checked out at the scene by paramedics, but was taken to an area hospital for further evaluation and treatment.

“The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the California Highway Patrol, Shasta County Search and Rescue volunteers, and countless citizens who assisted in locating Seuss,” Sgt. Jerry Fernandez said after Seuss was safely located and returned to his grateful family.

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Contact the writer: [email protected]

Trevor Montgomery, 47, moved last year to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, The Valley Chronicle, and Anza Valley Outlook; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and Mountain Echo in Shasta County.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.

Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.

Trevor has been married for more than 28 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 15 – but soon to be 16 – grandchildren