(La Porte County, IN) - A frantic search for a missing two-year-old boy near Westville yesterday had a very happy ending.

 

Police and firefighters from multiple agencies, as well as a helicopter from Lake County, were out looking for the child who wandered away from home southwest of the Purdue Northwest campus.

 

La Porte County Commissioner Joe Haney, who was among the residents lending a hand in the search, said the boy was missing for about 90 minutes before a resident a few blocks away from the child’s home heard his doorbell camera activate. When the resident opened his door, the boy, named Wesley, was there with his brown mid-sized dog.

 

“It was really fantastic how it played out,” Haney said.

 

La Porte County Police Captain Derek Allen said searchers began celebrating when the boy turned up safe and sound.

 

“This was a situation that could have ended tragically,” he said.

 

Allen said factors working in favor of locating the boy safe and sound included good weather conditions and plenty of daylight.  The boy was also properly dressed for the conditions, clad in a hoodie and sweatpants along with Crocs on his feet.