A six-year-old autistic boy who wandered from his family home in Kentucky was found alive Tuesday with his small dog by volunteers on horseback, the child surviving three days and two nights in the wild mountainous terrain.
The boy was seemingly unfazed as he emerged stark naked out of some bushes onto a trail as he called out the vowels of the “Old McDonald” nursery song “E-I-E-I-O horsey” to the trail riders who were looking for him, according to reports in the Daily Mail and other outlets.
Roman Heilman, 6, a "non-verbal autistic boy," according to authorities, went missing on Sunday afternoon from his home in Louisa, about 30 miles south of Ashland.
Videos of the rescued boy being carried on horseback and the search earlier went viral on social media.
Video of Roman Heilman being rescued. This is the autistic 6-year old boy who has been missing in the woods of Lawrence County, Kentucky for around three days.
— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) November 3, 2026
God is good. pic.twitter.com/7kfccPJ9Mj
We are on our way to continue searching for Roman Heilman who is a 6-year old autistic boy wondering the woods barefoot and either naked or very little clothing.
— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) November 3, 2026
He was reported missing around 4pm on Sunday. We had cold rain on Sunday night. We tracked his scent for miles and… pic.twitter.com/JJeigj6hg7
Kentucky State Police (KSP) said the boy was believed to have walked away from his parents near his home around 4 p.m.
During the search, rescue crews found Roman’s diapers, pants, and jacket that he wore the day he went missing.
Part of search team included volunteers Jacob Mullins, a Louisiana horse trail rider, and Patrick Finley, a West Virginia welder.
Other trail riders joined them, all eager to find the boy, Mullins told the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Mullins told the newspaper:
There was about 10 of us. We were all on horses in the woods before daylight. And we rode the horses a total of 14- plus miles, trekking around trying to find him. We found him probably about a mile and a half from his house. He came out of the bushes saying ‘E-I-E-I-O horsey.’ He just walked right out of the bushes over onto a horse trail.
He was naked and he was scratched and he had a little dog with him. He ate a banana and drank some water and then we brought him off the hill.
"We wrapped him up in a sweatshirt, put him on the horse and started bringing him off the mountain,” Mullins added. “He was fine.”
An IAN Alert, used for when children under the age of 18 with autism or mental illness go missing and may be in danger, was issued shortly after his family alerted authorities.
"Hundreds of volunteers and people using horses, drones and aircraft searched for the child in the mountains and woods around his home," the Herald-Leader reported.
Mullins said told the newspaper that may have actually not worked in the rescue teams' favor, explaining that the noisy rescue vehicles by land and air were likely "scaring him.”
“And I think without the horses, he wouldn’t have come out,” Mullins said.
The K9 Search & Rescue Services of West Virginia Inc was deployed to the area as well as the other volunteers and rescue authorities from police and fire departments.
Though the K-9 service did not find the boy, it nevertheless praised the massive effort and credited Providence as well.
“Alongside hundreds of first responders and volunteers we witnessed something today that words simply cannot describe. Prayers were answered, hope became reality, and a true miracle unfolded before our eyes," the service said in a statement after the rescue.
Breitbart News contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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