Williamsburg, Va. - Police have found eight-year-old Zeb Gross after an extensive search on Monday morning, according to Williamsburg Fire Spokesperson Eric Stone.
He was found in the crawl space of his own home.
"He entered from the outside of the house that the personnel went in earlier," Stone said. "So we aren’t sure how he got in there or when he got in there. But he is happy and has been reunited with his family."
Zeb's parents told police Zeb was safe at his Skipwith Farm home when they checked on him in his room at 2 a.m. but called police when they woke up around 7 a.m. and realized the boy was missing.
He was wearing a tie-dye shirt, black Adidas athletic pants, black shoes and no coat.
Williamsburg Fire, Williamsburg Police, Virginia State Police and the Virginia Department of Emergency management tirelessly searched a 2-mile radius from the boy's home with about 80 people, a helicopter and K9 tracking dogs.
"A missing child usually illicit a large response anyway," said VDEM Search and Rescue Coordinator Mark Eggeman. "But in this situation, because of the cold weather that's really starting to drive some of the urgency."
It was a desperate search to find the boy before the sun and the temperatures dropped and they were able to do so by 3:15 p.m., more than 8 hours after the boy was missing.
A medical team evaluated Gross and say he is okay.
