Police began a frantic search for a missing 10-year-old after she went missing after sleepwalking into the woods. The child disappeared from her home on Saturday.
Fortunately, this story has a happy ending. Authorities managed to find the 10-year-old girl. They found her curled up on the ground in the forest. She had traveled 1.5 miles away from her house. Peyton Saintignan's parents reported her missing in Louisiana. They said they hadn't seen her since she was going to go to bed the night previous.
In a Facebook post, the Webster Parish Sheriff's Office confirmed they found the girl. It took them until 11 p.m. the following night to find her. They used thermal imaging-equipped drones to rescue her.
10-Year-Old Disappeared
"She was in dense woods roughly 300 yards from where a trail camera had recorded her earlier Sunday morning," Webster Parish Sheriff Jason Parker said. "She was asleep when we found her. We've had her checked by EMS and she is fine, back at home and hungry."
According to the sheriff's office, the 10-year-old was wearing blue Frozen pajamas and no shoes. She wasn't equipped for the wilderness but managed to survive. They used "thermal imaging on the helicopter" to detect her body heat. Hundreds of volunteers also aided in helping to find her. Parker said, "We had the DeSoto Parish helicopter in the air and couldn't put drones up at the time, but when it was possible, Josh Klober, Matt Ramos and Micah Carter brought their equipment and successfully located the young girl."
The sheriff added, "I can't tell you how thrilled we all are to have a happy ending to this. A lot of prayers were answered today." The 10-year-old had sleepwalked into the woods near her house. It's not the first time she went sleepwalking.
Klober, co-owner of the drone company, stated, "We staged up and got everything set up, set the generator up. We had a big, flat-screen TV. We saw the purple and white pajamas that she had been wearing. She was laying there. She wasn't moving and everybody was just kind of holding their breath."
"Other than some mosquito bites, she was perfect," Parker said. "It's truly a miracle that she was unharmed."
