8-year-old autistic boy found; remains in stable condition

An 8-year-old autistic child who was found Friday, five days after wandering away during a family outing,  remains in stable condition this morning at VCU Medical Center, according to a spokeswoman there.

Robert A. Wood Jr. was found by a volunteer searcher Friday who was looking near a quarry less than a mile from where the child was last seen. He slipped away from his father Sunday afternoon within an 80-acre park where during the Civil War, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee fought off federal troops along the North Anna River.

Veteran law enforcement officers shed tears Friday over the discovery in a creek ditch of the missing autistic boy,  whose shining clear blue eyes signaled life and relief.

"When I saw those bright eyes, well, that's all I needed to see," said Tony Lippa, sheriff in Caroline County, where 8-year-old Robert A. Wood Jr. and his mother, Barbara Locker, live. The child's grandmother once worked as a dispatcher for Lippa.

On Friday, Hanover Sheriff David Hines fought off tears describing a herculean effort by several thousand volunteer searchers and hundreds of professionals from across the state and from as far away as Florida who combed over thousands of acres of dense woodlands looking for the boy.

Robert was airlifted to VCU Medical Center Children's Hospital by a Virginia State Police helicopter shortly after 2 p.m. and was listed Friday night in good condition.

"He was alert, his eyes were open and his respiration was fine," said Hanover sheriff's Capt. Mike Trice, who saw the boy before he was sent to Richmond.

"He is awake and alert and very happy to see his mom and dad and his grandmother," said Dr. Christopher Woleben, who met with reporters at the hospital in Richmond.

Woleben, an assistant professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics at Virginia Commonwealth University, said Robert "is doing remarkably well, and thank goodness we had some warm weather the past few days."

Woleben said Robert was slightly cold when he arrived from the extreme conditions Friday. "We are currently looking at the extent of any type of injuries that he may have from the exposure to the elements."

Robert, who cannot communicate verbally, apparently had been moving about the area throughout the search and may have benefited from stockpiles of blankets and water left in the woods by rescue teams and that were made visible at night by light sticks.

"We were picking up scent pools as recently as this morning," said Scott Forbes, whose Dutch Shepherd, Da Wu, is trained to give an alert on human scent from some 40,000 cells that the body sheds every minute. Forbes said scent dogs had been throughout the area where Robert was discovered in recent days and had alerted on coyotes as well as the boy's scent, which tended to concentrate in low-lying areas.

"Every child is different," Forbes said of autistic children, who can easily become disoriented, especially if left alone.

William Chrimes, a search and rescue specialist with the state Department of Emergency Services, praised trained volunteers who came from across the state to help in the search.

Chrimes, whose wife also was part of search teams, described a gripping scene at the command post within the park when news of the discovery broke. "There was a lot of emotion, a lot of people trying to compose themselves to let it all sink in and then this tremendous feeling of a weight off our shoulders."

Chrimes said professional searchers can predict the likelihood of locating a missing person as time goes by and conditions change, but Robert was well past the 72-hour threshold for which models exist. "And bad weather was moving in," Chrimes noted as showers and cooler temperatures developed outside Friday.

"There is a God," said Sheriff Hines, invoking the power of prayer that he said seemed to be at work during the week.

Gov. Bob McDonnell on Friday praised the "true sense of community and selflessness" displayed by those involved in the search. "I can only imagine the fear, uncertainty and sadness that Robert's family endured during this difficult time," he said.

Robert was in the park Sunday with his father and his father's girlfriend as well as a younger brother who also has autism. Investigators said perhaps five minutes passed between the time Robert was discovered missing and a call to 911 from the family.

Last night, his mother, Barbara Locker, issued a statement from the hospital. "He is here and safe," she said. "Thank you for your prayers, your thoughts. Thank you for searching. He is a strong little fella."

Robert's father, who was called in from the search field to learn of his son's discovery, thanked law enforcement agents and volunteers. "Robert is a very strong and determined little boy. We never gave up hope that he would return home."

"Whenever a child is missing, everyone wants to step up," said Hines, adding that rescue experts said they have never been involved in so extensive an effort. "No one on the team ever gave up, and I have to say that there were some times that you just had to reach down and find that faith that we were going to find him."

While it seemed remarkable that Robert could have gone undetected for so long given the massive effort to find him, Chrimes and other experts said Friday that it is not unusual for autistic children to purposely avoid being found. Some manifestations of autism result in a high tolerance of pain and little fear of the dark or the unknown, Chrimes and others said.

"He could have thought it was a game," said Forbes, president of Om Ma Ni International Search, which has been involved in numerous hunts for autistic children.

Trice said that because Robert was not receiving medication, his hyperactivity may have increased.

About 350 people had been deployed by 9 a.m. Friday as the search picked up anew, most of them repeat volunteers who already had been registered and trained.

Nine specialty search-and-rescue teams were used to comb an area near the river.

The search-team staging area was moved from Kings Dominion to nearby Meadow Event Park on Friday so as to not to conflict with Halloween weekend events at the theme park.

Trice also announced that a volunteer on his second day of searching collapsed from a heart attack Thursday at the Kings Dominion parking lot. Rodney Clifton, 50, of Henrico County is being treated at a local hospital, he said.