Thea Chase, a 2-year-old toddler, had gone missing from her home on September 20, 2023, at about 8 o’clock. Troopers from the Michigan State Police’s Iron Mountain post were called to the home in rural Faithorn.
Who is Thea Chase and what happened to him?
Her disappearance sparked a large search, with officials utilizing drones, search-and-rescue teams, and canine units, as well as people organizing their own search party to help in searching across the remote woods area of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the United States.
Thea Chase and her two family dogs were discovered in the woods many hours later. According to CNN, the toddler was found sleeping with one of the dogs serving as a pillow while the other dog kept watch.
According to WBAL-TV, Thea Chase and her two dogs left her home at around 7:30 p.m. on September 20, 2023, while her mother, Brooke Chase, imagined the toddler was outside with her uncle, who had been power washing.
According to CNN, Thea’s uncle told Brooke to take her kid inside because she was not wearing shoes when she went to check on her baby. Brooke Chase stated to WLUC:
Incident explored as missing toddler Thea Chase found with dog
Thea Chase, a toddler, was reported missing by her mother Brooke Chase after she vanished from their residence in Faithorn, a small community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, close to the Canadian border near Sault Ste. Marie, at around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Thea’s uncle urged the young child to go inside and put on some shoes as she was playing in the yard barefoot, according to Brooke, who spoke to local media source WLUC.
“She said ‘OK!’ and he thought she went inside. My gut told me to go check on Thea and make sure she wasn’t getting into any trouble,” Brooke said. “That is when we noticed that she was not here, and the dogs were not here.”
For about half an hour, Brooke and her brother-in-law searched the surrounding areas for the missing toddler to no avail.
“I was just panicking, thinking the worst,” she said, noting that neither the dogs nor Thea were answering their yells.
A search for the two-year-old employing drones, search-and-rescue teams, and sniffer dogs was coordinated by Michigan State Police and local sheriff’s deputies after police received a call at around 8 p.m.
“When we get a call like that, everything else stops,” Michigan State Police Lt. Mark Giannunzio told CNN.
To help find Thea in the deep forest surrounding Faithorn, locals organized volunteer search groups.
Near midnight, more than four hours after the two-year-old was reported missing for the first time, a family friend using an ATV to look for Thea stumbled upon the family’s Rottweiler, Buddy.
