5-year-old boy goes missing in Maine woods for 8 hours

ACTON, Maine – Officials say a 5-year-old New Jersey boy who became separated from his family during a hike and went missing for nearly eight hours has been found unhurt in the woods in Maine.

Wardens say a volunteer rescuer and her dog found Christopher Grecco at around 2 a.m. Monday in Acton. Handler Dorothy Smail told WCSH-TV that the boy was on lying on the ground and playing dead because he thought her dog was a fox.

The boy was reunited with his family.

The search was launched Sunday evening after the boy became separated from a group of relatives hiking along a trail near the New Hampshire border. The group says he vanished around 6:30 p.m., and the family called the sheriff’s department two hours later.