By John Howell Sr.

Batesville police and school officials spent several frantic hours early Friday evening locating a child who had been reported missing.

The initial report to the police department was made by the child’s mother at 5:10 p.m., police records state. By the time the five-year-old was found safe and sound about 8:10 p.m., officials of the Department of Human Services (DHS) had joined police and school officials in an attempt to make sure the child was safe.

The mother told officers that the child was supposed to have boarded a school bus that was to take her to a day care where she was to stay until her mother picked her up after work. When the mother went to the day care, the child had not arrived by bus, the mother told police.

“We took it seriously from the git-go, but we had to verify the mother’s story,” Deputy Police Chief Don Province said. While an officer interviewed the mother, “We started calling around to all the places she should have been and word got around,” Province said. Another officer reviewed with South Panola Schools transportation director Scootie Murphree surveillance video from school buses.

The videotape showed the child boarding a different bus from the bus that would have dropped her off at the daycare, Province said. Officers also learned that DHS investigators had been to the school to talk to the child on Friday and were scheduled to interview the mother and child that afternoon. Word of the missing child was further spread by an announcement on radio station WBLE during its broadcast of South Panola’s playoff game with Clinton, and the police department started receiving phone calls.

Investigators determined that the child had ridden a school bus to a cousin’s house then went  to another person’s in the Courtland area, Province said.

“That (person, in Courtland) got a phone call asking if she still had the child.” The child was brought to the police station shortly afterward, the deputy chief said.

“It was all beneficial; everything came together for us,” Province said. “That’s why we have to be careful what we put out initially,” he added.

Detective Jeremiah Brown said Monday that an investigation was continuing in an attempt to determine if the mother instructed the child to board the wrong bus to avoid the DHS interview.