LOWELL, MASS. (WHDH) - The Lowell Police Department is widening its search for a missing 3-year-old boy from the Pawtucketville neighborhood by extending the one-mile radius search from Tuesday.
The boy, who has only been identified as Harry, was last seen on Freda Lane at his babysitter’s house Tuesday morning. He was wearing gray pants with a white stripe and a long-sleeved maroon shirt. The call to police came in at around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The boy was dropped off at his babysitter’s house on Freda Lane at 7:15 a.m. This was his fifth visit to his babysitter’s house and the babysitter was watching one other child at the time, according to police. Officials also said in a press conference on Wednesday that the boy was not already outside when he disappeared, but that he had walked out a door while the sitter was focusing on another child.
Community members should expect an extra police presence in the outer Pawtucketville area of the city during the search. Police response includes the State Police and State Police Airwing, Dracut, Tyngsborough and UMass Lowell Police, as well as multiple K-9 units and a dive team. Officers are focusing their search on backyard pools, woods and wetlands near the house, and using tools like drones and infrared technology in their search. A public safety alert was also blasted out to area residents with Harry’s photos Wednesday afternoon.
“They’re going into everybody’s house,” a neighbor said. “I think they’ve been to my house like three times.”
“We’re gonna search as long as we can and as long as we need to,” said Lowell Police Department Interim Superintendent Barry Golner.
Police said that over 200 officers are involved in the search and they do not believe that foul play is involved, but that the boy likely wandered off. Still, the FBI’s Child Abduction Team has also been called, should the case go in that direction.
“It’s gonna be an extended type of search right now,” said Golner. “We have a vast forest where the child could be. There are vast bodies of water in the forest as well. So we do have to make sure that we do have enough assets and enough personnel to dispel them, and relieve them if something should be prolonged.”
Multiple police dogs have tracked towards the woods, but officials said they cannot guarantee this is the direction the child went in. Police ask community members to continue checking their spaces and home security cameras for any sign of the missing child.
Anyone with information on the situation is urged to call 911 or Lowell Police at 978-937-3200.
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