Michael Joseph Vaughan, 5, whose family calls him Monkey, was last seen on July 27 near his home in Fruitland, Idaho, according to the boy’s family. The police say they have no leads.
For 10 days, the quiet bedroom community of Fruitland, Idaho, has been overrun by drones, canine units and hordes of on-foot volunteers, all scouring the city in a desperate effort to find a 5-year-old boy whose family calls him Monkey.
Fruitland’s 12 police officers, aided by more than a dozen local agencies, the F.B.I. and the state and county police, have searched over 3,000 acres of land, 200 residences and businesses, 200 trash cans, a septic tank and 29 miles of the Snake River bank bordering Idaho and Oregon looking for any sign of the missing child, Michael Joseph Vaughan.
Mayor Brian Howell said residents had “never seen anything like this” in Fruitland.
“It’s a pretty incredible little town,” Mr. Howell said. “Everyone is looking for him.” He personally joined some search efforts in the fields near Michael’s home in Fruitland, a city of 5,400 residents about 50 miles northwest of Boise. The town, though not agricultural itself, is surrounded by farmland, part of largely rural Payette County.
But over 2,500 hours of searching have yielded very few, if any, developments.
Investigators have been “working just as hard right now as they did when he was first missing,” Mr. Howell said. “They’re literally leaving no stone unturned. They’re draining canals, they’re checking homes. They’re doing everything that they can do.”
According to local reports, the town is refusing to slow down search efforts. Residents have come together not only to look, but also to provide resources, Mr. Howell said. Restaurants have donated food to search parties and the authorities, and some owners have closed for a few hours in the day to walk the fields around the town. Some residents have conducted their own investigations, against police wishes.
Jennifer Hanna, a nanny for Michael’s family, has reportedly been leading prayer circles for the boy’s safe return.