Koehn, 12, found Saturday afternoon in woods close to home.
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Scott Koehn gives a thumbs up after first responders found him Saturday afternoon in a thicket of trees in western Suwannee County. The 12-year-old had been missing for two days. (COURTESY SUWANNEE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE)
LURAVILLE — A two-day search ended with a 12-year-old Suwannee County boy found safe in a thicket of trees Saturday afternoon.
Scott Koehn, who walked off from his residence off 168th Street around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, was found by Suwannee County Sheriff's Office Investigator Chuck Tompkins and a member of the Union County Sheriff's Office Posse just before 2 p.m. Saturday.
Suwannee County Sheriff Sam St. John said Tompkins and the Union County posse member were out riding in a field about ¼ mile away from Koehn's house when they heard something from a thicket of trees.
“They started listening and they heard it again,” St. John said. “They went down there and found him inside the trees. He was basically down in there hiding and didn't want to be found.”
St. John said the trees were in the middle of an open field. He added that authorities believe Koehn had spent the past two days in that one area.
“That's why we weren't finding any tracks and nobody had seen him, he just stayed in that one spot,” St. John said.
After Koehn's disappearance Thursday evening, the SCSO searched the area along with K9 teams from area correctional institutions and drones. The search intensified Friday with the addition of airplanes and helicopters, boats on the Suwannee River and a canvas of the neighborhood by responders on foot.
The search continued overnight Friday and into Saturday until Koehn finally called out for help.
“I guess it got hot enough for him or he got tired enough or hungry enough, and decided to holler out to us,” St. John added. “That's when they heard him and went down there and found him.”
St. John said Koehn appeared to be unharmed, other than bug bites and being hungry and thirsty. He was transported to a Gainesville hospital to be checked out.
“He was tough,” St. John added about Koehn. “He's tougher than I was, I can tell you that. I couldn't stay out that long in the bugs and heat, mosquitoes and all. I would have said I'm ready to go to the house.”