The boy was seen running into the woods at around 4 p.m. Tuesday and was not seen overnight.
PORT ANGELES, Wash. — A 10-year-old who went missing for about 21 hours was found safe Wednesday in what was described as a dollhouse on the back porch of a relative’s home in Port Angeles.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) said Mason Combs of North Carolina was playing with friends Tuesday evening when he ran into the woods around 4 p.m. and didn’t return. Mason was visiting family in Port Angeles when he went missing.
Overnight temperatures dropped into the 40s.
“When someone is outside overnight in those temperatures, especially a kid, we always celebrate finding them the next day because that clock is ticking for us,”
Mason has a kidney condition that requires him to take medication, which added further urgency to the search.
“That really upped the anxiety for us in trying to locate this child and get him the medical care immediately that he may need,”
Adding to that anxiety was a cougar that was spotted in the search area overnight. The cougar is believed to be a mother with two cubs.
CCSO deputies and Search and Rescue and Jefferson County deputies used drones to search the woods south of Highway 101 near Blue Mountain Road, where Mason was last seen. The King County Sheriff’s Office helicopter helped search the area.
K9 teams from Kitsap were searching nearby areas, including buildings and ponds.
More than 40 people assisted in the search.
The search was paused around 2:30 a.m. and resumed at 5 a.m.
By approximately 1 p.m. Mason was found by a family member. He was in a dollhouse with a blanket over it.
Police said they are unsure how Mason ended up in the dollhouse, because law enforcement searched the area thoroughly. The boy was taken to the hospital to get checked by medical personnel.
Once he is cleared from the hospital, he will be interviewed to find out what happened and where he went.
