By MELISSA DONLEY

The Brunswick News

Darkness fell on police officers and residents Tuesday as they searched a wooded area in western Glynn County for a 15-year-old autistic boy who had been missing for two hours.

Their worry was that the boy, who was moving with his mother from California and does not speak, was facing a night alone in dense woods as temperatures were expected to drop into the upper 40s.

Adding to their concern was the number of lakes in the woods and concerns the boy could not swim.

As the search by about 30 people spread out on foot and all-terrain vehicles, Al Dorcas, the boy's grandfather and to whose house the boy and his mother were moving, was visibly shaken.

At 6:30 p.m. he was relieved, when police brought his grandson home safely.

The Glynn County canine unit bloodhound, Mable, was able to track the boy's scent from Dorcas' home in Thalmann to near the Harrington Track Hunting Club, where the boy, who neither police nor Dorcas would identify, was found unharmed. "The dog was tremendous," Dorcas said.

After searching for almost two hours, police concluded their hunt with a simple statement: "The boy is now at home with his mother," said Glynn County Police Lt. Jay Wiggins.

The boy wandered from Dorcas' home at about 4:30 p.m. while Dorcas, his wife and the boy's mother were unloading belongings from a rental truck.

With darkness approaching, the Glynn County Police Department called in help from the Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Brantley County Sheriff's Office and Camden County Sheriff's Office.

"Anytime a child or elderly person is missing, all law enforcement in the area comes out," said Wiggins, who led the search party.

Police worked against the challenges of approaching darkness, thick hunting woods, nearby lakes and cool weather. They also faced the challenge of the boy's autism, which meant he could not answer searchers' calls.

"The child couldn't respond," Dorcas said. (Autism is a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain in areas that control social interaction and communication skills.)

Police officers were aided by a Georgia State Patrol helicopter in the two-hour search.

"I can't get over the response," Dorcas said. "Within minutes (the police) were here."

Several hunters and neighbors on all-terrain vehicles also helped. Police did not know how far from home the boy was found.