Wendell, NC boy found safe more than 24 hours after going missing
A 20-hour search and massive manhunt for a missing 9-year-old boy ended happily Wednesday as officers found the child hiding in a camper.
Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker said the boy appeared safe and healthy after his overnight ordeal, which required half a dozen police and emergency agencies plus roughly 70 volunteers.
”We are very very pleased and proud,” Baker said, adding, “We’ve still got more work to do.”
Investigators did not disclose where the boy, Bentley Stancil, was found in relation to his Wendell home or the circumstances leading to his discovery.
Baker said deputies are trying to learn why he left home as he did, adding that they believe he has done so at least once before.
”He was actively hiding at the time” we found him, said sheriff’s Sgt. Anthony Gurganus. “Whether he was just concerned about people in the area...”
Bentley was last seen Tuesday morning when he left home to take a bus for school.
The small residential neighborhood where the boy disappeared butts up against downtown Wendell and thick woods, and helicopters and drones circled it all from above during the search.
On Wednesday, more than 70 volunteers fanned out over a 10-mile radius looking for Bentley, some wearing day-glo hunting gear and leading search dogs.
Those volunteers’ cars and pickups lined Edgemont Road, where neighbors combed through thick brush looking for clues.
”We’re having a hard time because of all the sticker bushes,” said Rebecca Lassiter, a Wendell mom. “It’s really hard to navigate. We were wondering how a 9-year-old could navigate. We’re just shooting in the dark.”
The boy’s face appeared on a billboard on Wendell Boulevard, where volunteers walked in threes searching bushes and gullies.
An Amber Alert was issued Tuesday night for Bentley.
Authorities believed that the boy was on foot, Baker said Wednesday morning during a press conference. Baker confirmed that Bentley was seen entering and leaving an Exxon gas station.
Video from local businesses showed the boy wearing a jacket and another showed him without it, Baker said.
Baker said that they did not have evidence that he may have left in a vehicle or that he had been abducted. Asked by a reporter, Baker said that Bentley did not have a cell phone with him.
The sheriff’s office previously said Bentley left his home in the Wendell area Tuesday morning to go to his school bus stop nearby. But the boy instead was seen running into woods across from the stop on Questor Lane at around 10 a.m.
The bus stop is near a Hardee’s on Wendell Boulevard about two miles from his home, ABC11 reported.
The search Tuesday night called for people with dogs and flashlights to help and deputies searched the area with flashing lights on their patrol cars, ABC11, The News & Observer’s media partner, reported.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation was also involved in the case, Shelley Lynch, an FBI public affairs specialist, confirmed Wednesday in an email to The News & Observer.
The Amber Alert for Bentley came a few hours after the Wake County Sheriff’s Office announced they were searching for a missing or runaway juvenile.
This is a breaking news story. It will be updated.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREThis is a breaking news story
In a breaking news situation, facts may be unclear and details may change as the story develops. Our reporters are working to get information as quickly and accurately as possible. This story may be updated as more information becomes available. Refresh this page for the most up-to-date report.
This story was originally published November 16, 2022 at 10:32 AM.
