SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – A group of searchers looked in the woods for a missing autistic 9-year-old boy Monday morning and officials appealed to area residents to search their properties.
On Sunday, hundreds of volunteers looked for Logan Mitcheltree (search), but the search was halted temporarily for safety reasons after night fell and temperatures plunged into the single digits, said John West, the deputy chief of the South Williamsport Fire Department (search).
Mitcheltree, who is unable to speak, was last seen around 5 p.m. Saturday wearing a long-sleeved gray shirt, blue jeans and brown slippers. The boy's siblings told officials that he was watching television with them before they noticed he was missing, West said.
Officials said they hoped the boy had found a warm place for the night, and urged area residents to look under their cars, in sheds and on their properties.
"There's a possibility, there's always hope," West said. "Maybe somebody picked him up and he's with somebody who doesn't know he's lost yet."
Mitcheltree lives on the edge of the borough and next to the woods, West said.
On Monday morning, searchers were finishing looking in places they had hoped to reach Sunday night. On Sunday afternoon, more than 350 people had signed up for search parties, working under directions from a command post set up at a fire station. Volunteers were put in groups of 10 to 15 and assigned a portion of the search area.
Some searchers used thermal imaging cameras and night vision goggles after dark.
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