A 9-year-old boy wearing a jacket or shoes was found safe in Tennessee on Tuesday after a three-day search in the woods.
Jordan Gorman was found under a shelter made from a pit three-quarters of a mile from his home in Chetham County, Tennessee, around 3 a.m. Tuesday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said.
“Cold and hungry, but otherwise in very good spirits!” TBI said in a tweet on Tuesday. “Jordan, nice to see you!”
His family said Jordan fled after a disagreement and was last seen Sunday afternoon at his family’s home in Ashland City, 30 minutes northwest of Nashville, NBC-affiliated WSMV News4 reports.
The TBI initially sent a dangerous child warning on Sunday before raising it to an amber warning on Monday afternoon. The next day Jordan was healed by the Christian County Rescue Team Kentucky Rescue Team.
A member of the search crew told the TV attachment that they almost missed the boy until they landed on a blue pit in a heavily wooded area.
“When I got close to the tarp and I saw that there was a mass in it, naturally the worst was going through my brain until the tarp was moved,” said Matthew Reese. “It was just the biggest holy grail, I got it.”
Reese and two other rescue team members, all of whom are fathers, said they knew Jordan was their only child.
Logan Fryer, a member of the Christian County Rescue Team, said this is what will drive you to get out and find him.
Jordan’s temperature is being medically evaluated after spending two nights in the jungle, TBI officials said.
Temperatures in the area around Nashville have reached a low of 20 in the past three days, according to the National Weather Service.
Officials said Jordan initially said nothing but eventually warmed them up.
Jordan’s father, Aaron Hate, told News4 that his son had autism. At the time of his son’s rescue, Jordan was living in Chatham County with his two siblings and their foster parents, according to Hate.
When Hate heard the news that his son had run away from home, he said he was shocked because Jordan would never leave his older sister Jocelyn.
“I don’t think so per se, but all I know is that it seems strange that if he was hungry or because he was looking for Jocelyn, nothing else if he didn’t come back.”
Hatt added that he was both relieved and blown away by his son’s ability to survive in the woods for three days.
“He’s always really resilient and the Explorer type, but he doesn’t have a jacket to stay standing for two days, he doesn’t wear socks without shoes,” Hett said. “He’s just crazy.”
