A missing three-year-old boy in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, was found safe thanks to law enforcement’s use of a thermal drone.
When deputies got a call about a boy who had wandered into a more than 100-acre cornfield at night, they knew the job would require the use of the device to locate the child, the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office said Friday, noting that the local police department’s Technology Response Group also helped in the operation.
The sheriff’s office posted the drone footage, which shows the area as the drone looks for the boy. A few minutes into the clip, a person is seen among the rows of corn. Moments later, the video shows several rescuers headed directly toward the child:
**Press Release****Sunday, August 25th, 2024 at 8:49 PM **Earlier this week, our Deputies responded to a call of a lost 3-year old child that had wandered off into a 100+ acre corn field. Given the night time conditions and large area to be searched, Deputies quickly assessed the need for a drone with thermal capabilities. The Fond du Lac Police Department Technology Response Group assisted, and within minutes the drone operator was able to direct ground units to the child. Instances like these highlight the importance of technology and collaboration amongst law enforcement in our community. Without the use of the thermal imaging drone, it would likely have taken Deputies and other first responders hours to search the entire cornfield and the outcome may have been different. Below is the full press release and thermal imaging video from the drone. On August 25, 2024 at 8:49 p.m., the Fond du Lac County Communication Center received a call of a missing 3 year old on Marshview Road in the Township of Alto. The reporting party was a parent of the child and it was believed the child had walked into the standing cornfield behind the house. As deputies arrived on scene they learned the child was last seen at approximately 7:30 PM and all of the barns and buildings on the property had been thoroughly searched. At this time Alto Fire Department was paged out for man power to search the standing cornfield. The Sheriff’s Office also requested a drone operator with the City of Fond du Lac Police Department to assist in the search. The Sheriff’s Office also had members from their drone responding to the scene as well. The Alto Fire Department started a systematic search of the 100+ acres of standing corn and the drone operator with the City of Fond du Lac Police Department started scanning the area with a drone equipped with thermal cameras. At approximately 9:30 PM the drone located a heat spot in the middle of the corn field and was able to walk a Fond du Lac County Deputy and fire personal into the corn field to location of the possible missing child. At 9:46 deputies advised that they had located the child and that he was uninjured. The child was carried out of the corn field and then driven back to the farm where he was reunited with his parents. The child was approximately ½ mile away from home when he was located. The Fond du Lac Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the City of Fond du Lac Police Department Drone Team and the Alto Fire Department.
Posted by Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office on Friday, August 30, 2024
A body camera recording caught the moment officers and other rescuers pushed through the seemingly endless rows of corn to reach the child. At one point, someone is heard comforting the child.
“I got ya! We got him. We’re right here, buddy. We’re right here. We’re gonna go back, and we’re gonna find your mom, okay? We’re gonna go find your parents,” the rescuer tells the boy.
The child then tells the man holding him that he found a cat in the field, to which the rescuer replies, “Oh my goodness! How cool, huh?”:
The sheriff’s office said the child was not hurt during the ordeal and had wandered about half a mile from his home.
“Instances like these highlight the importance of technology and collaboration amongst law enforcement in our community,” the agency noted. “Without the use of the thermal imaging drone, it would likely have taken deputies and other first responders hours to search the entire cornfield, and the outcome may have been different.”
Additional video footage shows just how tall the corn is where the child was found:
“We’re right here buddy!”
Fond du Lac County Deputies and first responders find a missing 3yo boy deep into a 100+ acre corn field.
What typically takes hours on the ground, the child was found in about an hour with the help of a drone with a thermal imaging camera. pic.twitter.com/gU0tRYF5Pm
— James Stratton (@StrattonWISN) September 2, 2024
A police official told NBC 26 that the rescue was performed in less than an hour, thanks to the drone, which “enabled us to keep the search area a little bit smaller and, in this situation, luckily, helped us find that young man.”