MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- A Rutherford County Sheriff’s deputy says he was impressed with efforts to find the West Tennessee boy who died after getting separated from his grandmother during a walk in the woods January 14.
Deputy Greg Tollison was one of three Sheriff’s department personnel who traveled to Chester County to participate in the search for 2-year-old Noah Chamberlin.
Tollison says he was impressed by the way local law enforcement officials managed the search, which involved hundreds of civilians and safety personnel. Tollison and his fellow officers traveled to West Tennessee to participate in the search on the fourth day following the child’s disappearance.
“It had become desperate at that point. The weather wasn’t’ bad the first two nights, the temperatures weren’t extremely cold, so there was still a lot of hope that he would be found.”
Noah wasn’t found for another 3 days. He had died of hypothermia about a mile and a half from where he was last seen. Tollison says he and his colleagues took word of the child’s death hard.
“We all had the same reaction. It was very sad, but at the same time there was…we know that the family had a little sense of closure at that point.”
Tollison had never participated in such a large search for a missing person and says he'll be better prepared should a similar situation ever arise in the mid-state.