By Cade Fowler - bio | email
ALBANY, GA (WALB) – The search for a missing 9-year-old Albany boy intensified late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.
Dozens of volunteers, law enforcement officers, and emergency personnel gathered at Robert Cross Middle Magnet to coordinate search efforts to find Jayquez Miller.
"We got the initial call around 7:30 or 7:40 this evening regarding Jayquez Miller who is 9-years-old. He was dropped off at some point after school and has not been seen since," said Phyllis Banks-Whitley, APD Media Manager.
Family members say a relative dropped off the West Town Elementary 3rd grader at his Station Crossing home around 3:15 Tuesday afternoon.
Authorities believe he may have tried to walk to his aunt's house on Crepe Myrtle off Beattie Road, about a half-mile away. Witnesses say they saw young boy matching his description walking in that area around 5:00 p.m.
"We searched the neighborhood, but the search has increased with a large party of individuals who have come out to assist our officers in the search," said Banks-Whitley.
Missing for several hours and temperatures well below freezing, around 50 volunteers joined police in a massive search of the area where the young boy could have gotten lost.
"That's really our main concern right now...the temperature is dropping the longer that we're out here. The only information that we have right now as far as is clothing is that he was wearing a jacket, khaki pants, and a red shirt."
With officers on ATVs and a Georgia State Patrol Helicopter in the air, the goal is to cover as much ground as possible. Guided by flashlights, search teams split up and maneuvered through thick brush and swampy terrain.
"It a lot of heavy woods, a lot heavy vines and trees that have tumbled over. I'm just hoping we're going to find him somewhere curled up asleep," said volunteer searcher John Clay.
As the ground search continued just yards away, family members of Jayquez can only hold out hope that he's ok. But they worry that he's in need of help.
"I'm thinking that Quez is out there somewhere as he needs us to find him. That's what I'm thinking. I'm praying that Quez can come home to us safely. And if anybody out there has seen him, please return him back home to us."
Miller is 5'2", 75 pounds and was last seen wearing a red shirt, khaki pants, black jacket, and a black and red satchel. Anyone with information is asked to contact Albany Police at 431-2100.
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