Missing Kentucky boy w/autism found!

I know many parents with children with autism - whose tendency to wander off plus their nonverbal nature has given us more than our share of worry - have been waiting anxiously for news of 7-year-old Randall Chesser, who went missing Saturday.

 Thanks to everyone involved in the search - and to God for his faithfulness.

UPDATED | 2 Mercer firefighters tell how they located missing Washington County boy

By Greg Kocher -- gkocher1@herald-leader.com

Posted: 10:10am on Sep 26, 2011; Modified: 7:16pm on Sep 26, 2011

WILLISBURG -- After two days of searching, two firefighters
found Randall Leon Chesser, a 7-year-old Washington County boy who had
been missing since Saturday.

Randall, who is autistic, was found
alive and well off Coulter Lane, about two miles northeast of the
Willisburg fire station and three miles northeast of his house, shortly
after 2:30 p.m.

Randall's discovery came on a day when crews
intensified efforts to comb the area to find him. Police expanded the
search area and made a plea to nearby residents to check their property
for Randall. The search involved all-terrain vehicles, search dogs and
about 250 people, including volunteers and state and local authorities,
many of whom walked the area.

Randall was found by Mercer County firefighters Chris Goodlett and Montey Kelly, who saw the boy lying near a creek.

"We
got down in there and something kept telling us to stay," Goodlett told
the Herald-Leader. "When we found his little boot track in that creek
we knew we were onto something."

Goodlett said they had actually
passed by Randall, but they went back. He said there were buzzards
flying around, and "that was our sign."

Kelly said he went up to the boy and asked whether "he was OK and he raised up and looked at me."

"I offered him water and crackers and we sat there and ate until everybody showed up," Kelly said.

Goodlett said Randall kept saying "thank you sir, thank you sir!"

When
the boy saw his rescuers, the first words out of his mouth were, "I
want to go home," said John A. Settles, Washington County
judge-executive.

"We praised God just for the fact that we found him and found him alive," Settles said.

Read more at Kentucky.com