By Billy Davis

A two-year-old boy who followed his grandfather’s dog into thick woods was found shivering hours later in a hay field almost a mile from home.  

Panola sheriff’s deputy Bubba Moore, scanning the hay field with a flashlight, found Landon Morton approximately two hours after the search began Friday afternoon, November 26.

The toddler, somehow, had crossed an eight-foot creek north of his home as he followed the dog, named Maggie.  

“He was wet from his chest down. Cold and shivering,” said Moore.

Landon, yelling out in the darkness, came running when Moore had walked within fifty yards of his location, the deputy recalled.

The search began at the child’s home on Dawn Cove, a dead-end road that extends north off Shiloh Road south of Batesville.

Landon, who turns 3 in January, is the son of Chesli Brown and Blake Morton, who live at the north end of Dawn Cove.

Brown said her son had followed the dog north through the woods, crossed the creek, then stopped in the hay field farther west.

The family was “dog sitting” Maggie  during Thanksgiving, she said.

After Landon was found, Brown said she waited in an ambulance while rescuers brought him home.

“The longest ten minutes of my life,” she said.

More than a dozen trained volunteers organized into three groups, coordinating their search with helicopters from Air Evac and the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department, said Panola EMA director Daniel Cole.

Cole said Landon’s mother did a good job of describing the boy’s clothing and distributing photos of the toddler.   

Cole and sheriff’s deputy Clint Roberson, who oversee Panola County Search and Rescue, coordinated the ground search. Panola investigator Mark Whitten communicated with the helicopters.

“It was seamless,” said Cole of the search. “It was one of the best searches I’ve ever been on.”

Cole credited excellent communication and teamwork for organizing at the home, then moving the search beyond the immediate area of Dawn Cove.  

“Nobody complained, when they searched the creek, that they didn’t have boots. They just did it,” Cole said.

Most child searches end quickly since the child is often found hiding, Cole said. But the afternoon was growing dark and cold, and the searchers were growing nervous.  

Moore said sheriff’s deputy Danny Beavers was searching south along the creek so he turned north and followed the creek bank toward the interstate.    

Moore followed the creek northwest to a hayfield, yelling the boy’s name as he walked. It was dark when he crossed a wooden bridge into a second hayfield. The flashlight flashed over a pair of eyes, and Moore thought he had spotted a deer. But it was the puppy.

When the interstate traffic died down, Moore heard the toddler crying and calling for help.

“I’m thankful for everybody who helped,” said Brown. “They gave my son a second Christmas this year.”

 And Maggie the dog?

“She went home a day early,” said Brown.