News

Toddlers on highway wandered away from home

By Bill Moss, Published: October 23, 2014

Two toddlers found in the roadway of Crab Creek Road were rescued by sheriff's deputies and social workers on Thursday afternoon, the sheriff's office said. Investigators later ascertained that the children wandered away from their nearby house.

Dispatchers received a call about 12:30 about the two small boys in the roadway."From initial reports it appeared the children could have been let out of a vehicle that drove away from the scene," the sheriff's office said. "As the Sheriff's Office and Department of Social Services were bringing the children to the Sheriff's Office a call was received from a woman indicating her children were missing very close to the area where the children were found."

According to a 911 tape, the callers said it appeared that people in a large pickup truck had dropped off the boys and driven off. Sheriff's investigators determined that that wasn't true.

"On the way back (to Hendersonville) the mother called and said the children were missing from her home and we said if she wants to make a positive ID she can come down to the office and that's what she did," said Chief Deputy Frank Stout. The mother works overnight and may have been asleep when the boys walked out of the house at mid-day, Stout said. "It does not appear they were abandoned," he said. "It appears they wandered away." The home is at 1395 Crab Creek Road between Holmes State Forest and DuPont Forest.

At around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Stout said the children had not yet been released to their parents. Social workers would work with the family on safeguards "to ensure this doesn't happen again," he said.