SEARCY, Ark. — In Searcy, Arkansas dozens of volunteers put their Thanksgiving celebrations on hold to help search for a missing child.
Two-year old Malik Drummond reportedly wandered away from his home Sunday afternoon.
His disappearance has triggered a massive search effort after fears the child could not survive cold overnight temperatures.
As the days pass and hope turns to desperation, searchers seemed to be energized Thursday with the Thanksgiving spirit.
“We’re gonna continue to search and follow leads until Malik is found,” said Corporal Steve Hernandez, PIO with the Searcy Police Department.
Hernandez said there’s been no trace of 2-year old Malik Drummond since Sunday, but searchers are canvassing the community, even retracing their steps to make sure they haven’t missed a clue.
“The whole City of Searcy, with the exception of a few areas on the far east side, have been searched already,” said Cpl. Hernandez.
Volunteers who dedicated their Thanksgiving day to finding Malik, all share the same reasons for wanting to find the missing child.
Jay Ferguson is a Ham Radio Operator from Searcy and a parent.
“I would hope, as a parent, that if something happened to my child people would be willing to do what’s necessary to try to find him,” said Jay Ferguson.
Volunteers who couldn’t be home Thursday were treated to a taste of the holiday courtesy of the American Red Cross.
“We have turkey, dressing, green beans, corn and cranberry sauce,” said a Red Cross member.
After a brief meal, searchers were anxious to get back into the field and take advantage of the sunshine.
One of them is Wade Mullins, who traveled from Cabot, Arkansas to help look for Malik.
“We’re actually headed over by the ball field; gonna checks around the bridges and the ball field. And a gentleman has his dog and we’re gonna search over there,” said Wade Mullins.
Thursday, searchers of all ages were taking part.
Ethan Dykes, 12, is also a Ham Radio Operator with one goal on his mind.
“I just hope to find him. That’s really the main point,” said Ethan Dykes.
“We followed the creek and the woods all the way back there,” said volunteer Dee Andrews.
She showed up at eight am Thursday to join in the search for Malik.
She finally got a break around noon and ate turkey on the parking lot of the Command Center.
“I would probably be having dinner with some of my family,” said Dee Andrews.
But she said she doesn’t mind spending her holiday out here if it means finding the youngster.
After all, she said, that’s what Thanksgiving is all about.
“I have eleven grand kids, some of them are the same age as the little boy. And I wouldn’t want anybody to give up the search on one of my grandkids. So I’m just hoping and praying that we’re going to find him,” said Dee Andrews.
Police have interviewed Malik’s family members and friends of his family, but still have no evidence to dispute the claim that he just wandered away from his house.
It was first reported that Malik is autistic, but Corporal Steve Hernandez said there is no medical documentation to show that Malik Drummond was diagnosed.