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WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. -- An autistic child who wandered from her grandparents' Ossining home was found by Westchester County police on Saturday, according to a police statement issued Sunday morning.
The 3-year-old girl was discovered using a tracking canine by police officer Brian Tierney after a 9-1-1 call was received from the girl's grandmother reporting her disappearance from their Feeney Road residence at about 5:08 p.m., police said.
The grandmother had been playing with her granddaughter on the back porch but went inside the house for a moment, according to police. When the woman returned to the porch, she saw that a safety barricade had been moved and the child was gone, according to police.
Two county officers on patrol in town responded to the home immediately followed by multiple other county officers and assets.
Officers began a search of the family’s home and property as well as the adjacent woods and a stream as the county police Aviation Unit helicopter searched the area from above. In addition, officers fanned out to check all pools at nearby homes.
Tierney used his tracking canine, a bloodhound named Saratoga, a Bloodhound. Saratoga was presented with an item of the child’s clothing and followed her scent through several neighboring yards. Saratoga led Tierney to a multi-level swing set that had an attached playhouse. Tierney looked inside the playhouse and saw the child huddled in a corner.
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