In June of this year, a family’s worst nightmare came true in the town of Ponce de Leon, Florida – three-year-old Marshal Butler, a non-verbal autistic child, went missing.

The family was understandably panicked and called the police at roughly 11:40 am.

Then, law enforcement from Walton County, Holmes County, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, as well as relatives and neighbors, combed the area for the toddler for hours.

Kayla Stewart, the boy’s aunt, told local NBC affiliate WJHG that “all sorts of worst-case scenarios [were] running through their heads.”

The autistic child doesn’t communicate at all, which added another layer of difficulty to the search – he wouldn’t necessarily respond if he heard his name being called.

Marshal had wandered away from his home and had been gone for an hour before searchers were called in. We don’t know what was going on during that hour, but one could easily imagine that’s the time his family spent searching for him before they realized they needed the professionals.

The Walton County Sherriff’s office said in a Facebook Live video that around 25-30 “units” were out looking for him at the time.

A Facebook post around the same time gave more detail as well:

“The child was last seen wearing only a diaper. There was approximately an hour time gap between when the child was last seen and when our agency was called. Walton Correctional Institution has been asked to bring their K9 Teams to assist.”

While the details are sketchy (and will likely remain that way), the good news is that the boy was located during the search and he was safe!

According to WJHG News, it was neighbor Carol Shelton who found Marshal AND the two likely reasons he was ok.

It turns out the Sheriff’s Office did get a K9 assist, just not in the way they expected!

When Marshal was finally located around a mile away from his home, the two family dogs, Buckwheat and Nala, were with him.

Presumably, they went with him when he wandered away (though they could have tracked his scent a little while after) and stayed by his side throughout the ordeal.

“Both of his dogs were right there with him… [We’re] thankful that the pups kind of guided him along I guess they kept him safe,” said the neighbor.

His relieved mother could be seen rewarding the dogs with some love on the news.

“They’re doing their job,” she said of Buckwheat and Nala, lookig visibly relieved.

A photo of the boy’s rescue went viral as law enforcement worked on reuniting him with his family.

Marshal was found near a river and luckily suffered no physical injuries at all.

The only sign of having been through an ordeal was that the little boy was covered in dirt. But his mom said playing in the dirt is one of his favorite things to do.

For all we know he might have had a grand old time on his adventure with his furry friends!

As for the Sheriff’s office, they echoed a sentiment shared by many:

We hope Buckwheat and Nala are getting lots of treats for their role in keeping Marshal safe.

You can scroll down below to see the Facebook Live footage from that day.

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Source: WCSOFL via Facebook, WJHG News