03-31-2012, 05:09 PM
“Texas Equusearch has been asked to step down as the investigation has reached a possible conclusion,” DeFoor said. “Our searchers are very exhausted. It’s hot out here, these woods are thick, they’ve been going since Wednesday morning all day long, and it’s very taxing, but we’re very relieved that there’s a conclusion to the search. It’s a bad conclusion but it’s a conclusion at least.”
Texas Equusearch launched the drone about 9:15 a.m. on Saturday, the first day that weather permitted, DeFoor said.
From an altitude of 400 feet, the drone’s digital camera picked up a red shirt worn by the boy, who appeared to be floating in the southwest corner of the pond, he said.
“Once we got the photographs from the airplane back to the outpost, we reviewed the images and you could see a red color that looked out of place,” DeFoor said.
A helicopter flew over to confirm, and now law enforcement are in the process of retrieving the body, he said.
![[Image: photo.jpg]](http://blog.chron.com/newswatch/wp-content/blogs.dir/1842/files/officials-search-for-missing-toddler/photo.jpg)
Texas Equusearch launched the drone about 9:15 a.m. on Saturday, the first day that weather permitted, DeFoor said.
From an altitude of 400 feet, the drone’s digital camera picked up a red shirt worn by the boy, who appeared to be floating in the southwest corner of the pond, he said.
“Once we got the photographs from the airplane back to the outpost, we reviewed the images and you could see a red color that looked out of place,” DeFoor said.
A helicopter flew over to confirm, and now law enforcement are in the process of retrieving the body, he said.