A 3-year-old got lost in a cornfield. Her dog stayed beside her all night, troopers say

A 3-year-old girl went missing from her rural southeast Missouri home just before sundown Thursday, but she’s safe now, authorities say, after she was found sleeping in a cornfield with her dog by her side.

Remy Elliott had wandered off from her home near Qulin around 8 p.m. Thursday, KFVS reported. Her mother, Timber Merritt, called 911 after she couldn’t find the toddler on her own.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol told the Associated Press the search had started that night but was unsuccessful.

By early Friday morning, dozens of volunteers and law enforcement officers had joined in to look for the child, walking through rows of corn stalk, calling for Remy.

“It went from five people to about 75 to 100 people out here by the time we were done,” Merritt had told KFVS.

Sometime after 8 a.m., searchers heard barking and a family member found Remy asleep in the cornfield about half a mile from home, KFVS reported. Troopers said a small dog — a Yorkshire terrier by the name of “Fat Heath” — had “stayed by her side all night.”

Remy is OK, though her mother says she had several mosquito bites, the Associated Press reported.

“They said that she was asleep whenever he picked her up,” Merritt told KFVS in an interview. “She was definitely exhausted and hot, really sweaty and it took a while to drink anything. She said she wasn’t scared because Fat Heath was there. If he wasn’t I think she would’ve been terrified.”

Later that morning in a tweet, the highway patrol said, “This is what #Community looks like. Law enforcement, 1st Responders and community volunteers coming together to find a missing child. Her dog stayed by her side all night. #StrongerTogether.”

This story was originally published June 16, 2018 at 11:52 AM with the headline "A 3-year-old got lost in a cornfield. Her dog stayed beside her all night, troopers say."