K-9 ‘Midnight’ finds missing DeLand boy during Saturday afternoon search

DELAND, Fla. — Police officers in Deland deployed all available assets Saturday morning to locate a missing three-year-old boy in the Wellington Woods subdivision.

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After a 45-minute search in three thick, wooded areas behind the boy’s neighborhood, the child was found safe.

It was thanks to K-9 officer Midnight, a four-year-old black lab, and his handler, Corporal Damon Clark.

The body camera video that Corporal Clark was wearing at the time of the search captured the moment that the boy was found.

Clark says the boy was found playing on a tablet he brought home. He was found nestled in a thick of vines and heavy shrubbery, about a quarter of a mile from his home in the woods. Clark told Channel 9 that it was not easy to get to the child.

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“The dog is very energetic and very enthusiastic. He’s very loving. So he knew what he was tracking. Once he found a little boy, he just started looking around, came up to him, and was licking at his face and licking his arms,” says Clark.

Clark said he was relieved to find the child because Midnight lost the boy’s scent during the 45-minute search in the swampy area.

“So mom brought us the boy’s blanket, gave it to him to sniff and once he sniffed, he kind of acts little, little squirrely, once he has the odor. So then I send them on, and he moves, " said Clark, who added that it was a great feeling to reunite the boy.

“It’s always, always nice to know that, you know, even though I left those woods bloody and sweaty and scratched up and everything like that, it was well worth it because, you know, we reunited the little boy with his family.

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K-9 Midnight works for his reward, just a tennis ball, but he also got a big cheeseburger for finding the boy.

Corporal Clark said, “You know, the dog makes me look good. I’m not gonna lie. I’m the dumb end of the leash. So he does all the work. My job is just to read him and his body language and understand what he’s telling me because obviously he can’t talk.”

K -9 midnight not only missing people but also has a nose for narcotics.

Because Midnight is a lab, and because of his playful disposition, Del Lampley said he’s a great tool the department uses to build community relations with children in the local schools.

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