Boy Found After Night In Woods Autistic Youngster Discovered At Neighbors After Walking From Home

A barefoot autistic boy and his dog walked away from home on Friday night and disappeared in the woods, almost without a trace.

Saturday night, rescuers found 10-year-old Fred Delk at what his father called “a local neighbors.” The slender, brown-haired boy with blue eyes and his dog, Roy, were discovered safe and sound about 8:30 p.m., ending a search that lasted more than 24 hours.

Fred Delk Sr. declined to comment further.

All night and all day Saturday, search and rescue teams, aided by bloodhounds, all-terrain vehicles and horses, combed the forests and roads surrounding Delk’s home on Upper Gold Creek Road, about 20 miles from Sandpoint.

Wet weather and the fact that the victim apparently didn’t want to be found made the search more difficult.

“He’s not scared of anything,” said Corporal Bob Howard of the Bonner County Sheriff’s Department.

Autism is characterized by excessive daydreaming, hallucinations and a disregard for external reality.

“Normally in an area like this, it would be hard to be lost for very long because there are so many houses and roads,” said sheriff’s Corporal Gary Newcomb.

Howard, Newcomb and other members of the Bonner’s County Search and Rescue Team met the boy a couple of weeks ago after he wandered for 10 hours, traveling 12 miles from home, mostly at night.

“The guy who found him last time had to run and chase him down to catch him,” Newcomb said. “He appeared to be very intelligent. He probably learned to avoid us.”

Instead of being frightened or upset, Fred seemed to be having fun on his last outing, officials said.

The boy told Howard that he had been looking for snow. He told another rescuer that he was just out camping. And he told his mother that next time they wouldn’t catch him, said one rescue worker.

Fred was wrong.

Cindy Delk, the boy’s mother, declined to be interviewed because she was exhausted from her all-night vigil.

“I can just imagine him sitting there behind a tree watching us,” said Linda Howard, who was slumped in the cab of a truck after trying to track the boy for 14 hours with her bloodhound, Gus.

Another exhausted searcher snored in a pickup nearby.

“‘Homeward bound’ is his favorite movie,” said Kathi Vandenberg, another volunteer, referring to a story of two dogs and a cat trekking through the wilderness.

Gus picked up Fred’s scent at the Delks’ mobile home early into the search Saturday, followed it down Upper Gold Creek Road and north a few miles before losing it.

In a normal search, Newcomb said, search ers would make a lot of noise. But in this one, they almost had to sneak up on the victim to save him from injury or hypothermia.

“We brought in the horses because they are quieter,” he said.

Among the 60-plus rescue workers were neighbors who offered their help at the roadside jumble of pickups that comprised the command post.

Sally Lockwood and Jean Herzel ride horses through their neighborhood of ridges and woods constantly. Recently, Lockwood met the Delk family for the first time.

Young Fred asked her, “Did you hear about me running away,” she said. “He introduced me to his dog, Roy. That’s who we’re looking for is Roy, because Roy will come.”

Though it rained Friday night, rescuers think Fred was on the move and kept himself warm in spite of the fact that he was wearing only a green T-shirt and jeans. He slipped out of the house about 8 p.m. Friday.

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