Searchers Find Girl, 4, After 2 Nights in the Woods

About 300 people volunteered to join the search for Evelyn "Vadie" Sides, a redheaded 4-year-old who'd been reported missing Wednesday in rural Alabama, near Auburn University. About 48 hours later, they found her, unharmed, in a wooded area with her dog, WSFA reports. "No words are capable of describing everyone’s relief," Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said. "She is in good shape, she is responsive, she is talking, she’s alert. She is in good physical condition, and the best part is she is with her mama."

A friend of the family was caring for the girl, who was walking Lucy outside the girl's home, when she lost sight of Vadie. "We took a walk but then I got too fast and got running and got lost and then I started calling for nanny but nanny was too far," the 4-year-old said in a video her family posted on Facebook. "I slept by a road one, the first night, and … and the second night I slept where they found me." At one point, she became separated from Lucy. "I found her because I was going the right direction, because I could smell," Vadie said. When the volunteers found her, the sheriff said, per AL.com, she asked why so many people were in the woods. "One of the statements she gave was, 'I spent two nights in the woods.'" (More missing child stories.)