Emergency Search Underway For Missing NC Boy

CRAVEN COUNTY, NC — A massive search for a missing 3-year-old boy resumed Wednesday morning in eastern North Carolina as the Craven County Sheriff’s Office urged residents to check their storage sheds, vehicles and property for signs of the missing child.

Casey Lynn Hathaway, 3, was reported missing from his grandmother’s residence in Ernul, North Carolina around 2 p.m. Jan. 21. He had been playing with two other children, but could not be found when they came inside.

He is described as having blonde hair, brown eyes and is 28-inches tall, according to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.

By Wednesday morning, hundreds of searchers had volunteered to search for the little boy, forcing authorities to stop accepting volunteers due to the turnout, WCTI reported.

“We are doing everything we can to find this child, utilizing all resources at our disposal and once again, we want these folks in the Cayton Community and the Ernul Community to certainly keep an ear out,” Craven County Sheriff Chip Hughes said, according to the station.

Concern has mounted for the child, who Hughes said was not adequately dressed for the mid 30-degree overnight temperatures in the area that has sinkholes and deep ditches, WSOC reported.

Anyone with information about his location is asked to call the Craven County Sheriff’s Office at 252-633-0498, or NCSBI at 919-662-4500.

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