Police recount search efforts that went into locating missing Wilbraham children

WILBRAHAM, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - There was a relieving end to a scary story Tuesday night after two children went missing in Wilbraham. Thankfully, both were found safe two hours later.

Concerns set in after the two Wilbraham children did not return home after taking their dogs for a walk around the neighborhood. Multiple agencies sprung into action to find them and bring them home safely.

“When they didn’t come home, the parents began searching on their own to find the children,” said Wilbraham Police Captain Shawn Baldwin. “They are new to the area, have only lived here for about a year. Once that failed, they contacted us.”

The parents of the brother and sister duo, 11 and 15 years old, called police after their children took their dogs for a walk and did not come back home.

The Wilbraham Police Department set up a command center at the local middle school and immediately called in multiple surrounding agencies.

“We called in a lot of area departments,” Captain Baldwin told us. “East Longmeadow Police came out with their drone and UTV. We utilized the drone. Hampden County Sheriff’s Department has a bloodhound. He immediately came out and we began to track.”

The two were eventually found by a neighbor who knew the trail they got lost on.

“We actually had a 911 caller who’s familiar with the area and found the children, and our dispatch center was able to use a computer program that tracked the 911 caller, so we knew exactly where they were,” Captain Baldwin said. “We had them on our laptop and we walked them out of the woods.”

Superintendent of the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District John Provost said that they immediately notified the school community when they heard what happened.

“If anyone in the community knew of their whereabouts or if anyone wanted to assist, they were given the police department telephone number to share information,” Superintendent Provost told us.

On Wednesday, their crisis team met to decide how they would discuss this with their students. They decided to highlight how their community came together, but also remind students to not speculate on what happened when their classmates went missing.

“Basically, we focused on not engaging in speculation and emphasizing the strength of our community and how when neighbors work with neighbors, you can get good outcomes,” Superintendent Provost said.

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