Efforts to find a 4-year-old boy in Ouzinkie had a happy ending Friday according to Alaska State Troopers, with some top-drawer detective work from his family heading off a planned U.S. Coast Guard air search.
A Tuesday AST dispatch says that 41-year-old Darren Muller told a local village public safety officer at about 6:40 p.m. Friday that his son had been missing for about an hour.
"A hasty search was initiated by family members of the last (known) position of the child," troopers wrote. "The search yielded negative results."
Plans to locate the child subsequently escalated, with the VPSO alerting troopers in Kodiak and 15 members of Ouzinkie's Village Response Team mobilizing to conduct a secondary search.
"At approximately (7:43 p.m.), while preparing to activate the Kodiak Island Search and Rescue team and the USCG for air support, a family member located the child inside of a relative's residence," troopers wrote. "Further investigation revealed the child had climbed inside of a dresser drawer, closed the drawer, and fell asleep."
Troopers thanked Ouzinkie VRT members for their efforts to find the child.
Contact Chris Klint