Game warden locates toddler who wandered away from campsite overnight
TB R10 WELS — Maine Game Wardens safely located a missing 2-year old girl who had wandered away from her campsite during the early morning hours of Thursday, July 28.
Blaklyn Greenleaf, who turned 2 in June, was last seen sleeping in her family’s camper at the Jo Mary Lake Campground at 2 a.m. When her family woke up around 7 a.m., Blaklyn was missing, and the camper door was open.
After a quick initial search, her family immediately called 911, and game wardens, the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office, Maine Forest Rangers, Maine State Police and Maine Marine Patrol officers all converged at the campground to search for the toddler. The Maine Warden Service also had two warden service planes searching the area, as well as a Maine Forest Service helicopter and a Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office drone.
BACK WITH HER PARENTS – Mother Logan and father Brady Greenleaf reunited with their 2-year-old daughter Blaklyn after Game Warden Tyler Leach located the missing toddler on the morning of July 28 at Jo Mary Lake Campground.
Game wardens directed a quick ground “Hasty Search” of the area, which is an intense search of the immediate area with multiple people, and Game Wardens Tyler Leach and Nick Bartholomew set out to search their grid.
Leach was searching through one of the camp parking areas where there were some boat trailers and ice shacks stored. When he went around one of the ice shacks to check it, he looked over the stonewall that bordered the lot and saw Blaklyn with her blanket dressed in flowered pajamas sitting on top of a brush pile at approximately 10:45 a.m.
Leach, who is a father, was able to talk to and comfort Blaklyn, who then reached out her arms to him, and let him pick her up. Leach then raced back to the campground carrying Blaklyn, and as he got closer was met by mother Logan and father Brady Greenleaf running toward him and their daughter.
Blaklyn was examined, and did not need any medical attention after spending most of the night in the woods. She is back with her family.
During the course of the search, the Maine Warden Service had 24 officers searching the area, which was part of a larger group of nearly 40 people that included members of the Maine Warden Service, Maine Forest Service, Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office, Maine State Police, and Maine Marine patrol. The search crew contained ground searchers, K9 units, dive team members, fixed wing aircraft, a helicopter and a drone.