Marblehead boy safe following search

MARBLEHEAD – A 12-year-old Village School student was returned safely to his parents shortly before midnight Tuesday after an exhaustive and costly search of more than three hours.Police Chief Robert O. Picariello said the unidentified boy who lives on Elm Street was found around 11:40 p.m., near the Marblehead Lobster Pound, covered in mud with a small cut on his cheek, who simply said to police, “I’m the kid.””His intention was to go out on Brown’s Island and do some work on a fort that he built over the summer, but we’re not sure if he ever made it out there,” he said. “The fort could be just six or eight sticks leaning up against a wall, who knows.”Picariello said the boy was reported missing by his parents around 8:15 Tuesday night after he failed to come home from school. Soon after, an immediate search began in nearby conservation areas, parks and railroad beds and by helicopter.”The boy’s father called us and told us he had found the boy’s bike (at the end of Harding Lane off Beacon Street),” he said. “We had three firefighters in survival suits who waded across to Trustee’s Island and two police officers searching Gerry Island.”Picariello said a command post was set up by the North Eastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council and searches were conducted with ATV’s, bikes and dogs.”There’s no way he couldn’t have known we were looking for him,” he said. “And the search was not cheap. It was a tremendous amount of resources used to effectively search for this kid.”According to a police report, the boy wanted to go to the island to work on his fort after school, but became leery of the coming tide, so he waited a while, took a walk to Fountain Park and hiked for a bit. He then got hungry and walked to Crosby’s, where he bought oatmeal and pepperoni for dinner.Scared by the wind and the cold, the boy sought shelter at the Marblehead Trading Company’s Beacon Street boatyard, where he lit two candles.Curious what time it was, the boy then took a walk to Abbot Hall to look at the clock tower and then walked back to Fountain Park where he noticed search lights on Gerry Island and boats in the area.He later told police he thought they were “maybe looking for me” and began to walk again when he encountered a police officer.After being lectured by police for walking around at night, combined with the weather conditions and his age, he was reunited with his parents, who say their son does not suffer from any mental or health issues. His twin sister said he doesn’t have any issues at school.