NORTONVILLE, Ky. — Monday evening was an evening like many others for the Holmes family until the worst imaginable scenario for a parent played out in real life — their child was nowhere to be found.
Brittany Holmes’ family lives on a dead-end street in a rural part of Hopkins County. Many of her relatives live next to her, and much of her yard has a fence around it — although not the entire yard.
Brittany asked one of her daughters to feed the dogs, and her 4-year-old son, Tommy, went with her.
Brittany Holmes holds her son, Tommy, just days after he was lost in the woods for more than 15 hours. Tommy was with four family dogs, one of which sustained injuries, but is expected to recover.
After she fed the dogs, the daughter came inside, before looking out again to check on the dogs and Tommy. Everything was as it should be.
Brittany went to help another daughter with a DVD player, and around 5:55 p.m., she realized she didn’t hear her son or the dogs.
“He’s pretty noisy when he plays, so that was unusual,” Brittany said. “I went out, and I opened the door. There were no dogs, and there was no Tommy.”
Brittany said she immediately went to her mother’s house next door to see if he was there, or with her mom’s chickens, but there was no sign of him. That’s when the family started looking all over the area for the missing child.
They looked for several minutes before a panicked Brittany decided to call the police, which prompted an immediate response.
Tommy is on the autism spectrum, according to Brittany, and he sometimes has trouble communicating.
“They searched with drones and the dogs ‘til like 4 a.m.,” Holmes said. “I was pretty certain he was in the woods, because my dog…would not have left him…It was just strange, all the dogs being gone and him, too.”
A search party was organized for the following morning, with volunteers from the area and agencies from throughout the region coming to assist in the search.
Later Tuesday morning, Tommy was found, along with his dogs, who appeared to have not left his side, but not everything was OK.
A photo of Rowdy, the dog that sustained serious injuries when 4-year-old Tommy Holmes was lost in the woods.
One of the dogs, Rowdy, appeared to have been in a fight and was losing a large amount of blood, according to a post Brittany made on Facebook.
As they retrieved Tommy, they also attempted to retrieve Rowdy, who had been injured — but during the process, the dog stopped breathing. They left Rowdy at the scene, believing he was dead. The planned to return for the dog after Tommy got out of the hospital.
Before they were able to retrieve Rowdy, the dog came walking up their driveway, in bad condition but alive.
Rowdy was taken to Pennyrile Animal Clinic, where measures were taken to save his life.
Rowdy, the dog injured while with 4-year-old Tommy Holmes while he was lost in the woods, recovers at the veterinarian’s office. The vet bill for Rowdy has been picked up by the Hopkins County Humane Society.
Holmes said the dog will be released back into their care soon, and he is expected to make a full recovery.
The Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office handled the initial call, with search and rescue efforts coordinated by Hopkins County Emergency Management.
Hopkins County Sheriff Matt Sanderson said finding missing persons is hard enough, but finding someone on the autism spectrum adds an element of difficulty.
Their training has taught them that some people with autism who become lost gravitate toward water, according to Sanderson, which was the first place they looked.
“We went through training here at the sheriff’s office a couple years ago through the University of Louisville’s Kentucky Center for Autism,” Sanderson said. “That teaches you a lot, because, you know, we’ve dealt with children with autism in the past before, but once you get the training, you understand that they’re attracted to things like water.”
There are several creeks and bodies of water in the area, but their search uncovered nothing.
Another element they learned from their training was how people with autism communicate.
“What we were concerned about was, you know, if we’re out in the woods calling his name, is he going to respond or is he going to get scared and cower down and not respond?” Sanderson said. “Ultimately, the young ladies had called his name, and he responded.”
Tommy was found by a group of young women in the vicinity of Highway 41 near the Hopkins and Christian County line.
Three drones with infrared cameras also searched the area, along with several dogs trained to find people. Volunteers even searched on horseback, and agencies as far away as Owensboro provided assistance.
The search efforts were coordinated by Hopkins County Emergency Management.
Nick Bailey has been the Hopkins County Emergency Management director since 2009, and said one thing that stands out to him is how the community comes together during emergencies.
“Hopkins County, you know, it’s a rural community,” Bailey said. “There’s a lot of neighbor helping neighbor, but the fact that you’ve got strangers that are coming out to help this family find their missing kid, and to bring a good outcome… it’s always an awesome experience.”
Bailey said it was a great feeling when the call came in that Tommy had been found.
“Everybody was just struck with relief and excitement that the youngster was found, and he was found in an alive and well state,” Bailey said. “It was actually a pretty awesome notification.”
Bailey said he could not name all the agencies who responded or volunteers who came out to search, but everyone working together is what brought the outcome everyone had hoped for.
For Brittany, she’s glad to have her son and her dog back, and she’s thankful for everyone who worked to find Tommy.
“Thank you to everybody,” she said. “Thank you to the three girls that found him. I mean, we looked all night, 16 hours. And I don’t even think they were part of the search party. They just came up a random path and they came across them. I mean, everybody has been so amazing.”
Initially, a fund was set up to cover the veterinary cost associated with Rowdy’s recovery. That bill has been taken care of in total by the Hopkins County Humane Society, Brittany said.
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