‘Divine intervention': People who helped find missing Flagler teen share their stories

FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — Some of the people who helped find a 17-year-old boy with muscular dystrophy, who had been missing for days, are talking about what led to moment he was found alive.

A bloodhound from the Putnam County sheriff's office tracked down Rickey Wheeler after a couple who had volunteered to join the search efforts found some of his clothing.

“I think our involvement in this is divine intervention,” said Anthony Butrym. He and his wife Dawn decided Tuesday morning to volunteer their time to help look for Wheeler.

Then the Butryms found something.

“I found his clothes and then shortly after that, my wife found his shoes in the field sitting next to it,” Mr. Butrym said.

A deputy and his bloodhound named Putnam then used the scent from Wheeler’s clothing to find him about 100 yards away.

Read: Palm Coast teen found alive after five-day search, deputies say

“He was down in a really deep ditch,” said Sgt. Emmett Merritt, who said Wheeler seemed relieved when he and the search dog arrived. Wheeler even pet the dog with gratitude.

“Besides being dehydrated, probably hungry and bug bitten, I don’t think he suffered any major medical condition there,” said Chief Paul Bovino from the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.

Wheeler had been missing since Friday, but deputies did not start recruiting volunteers to assist in the search until Tuesday. Investigators said Wheeler had disappeared once before, in July, and turned up at a McDonald's a few hours later.

“If you start deploying too soon or too late, there are negatives with both of those,” Bovino said.

Channel 9 also asked why Wheeler left in the first place. Bovino said investigators still don’t know why, and at this time, deputies are letting him recover from his ordeal.

Cox Media Group