A7-year-old Ellsworth boy was found safe in a neighborhood home March 6 after a 75-minute early morning search of the area involving 30 first responders.

“This is a true testament to our first responders network here in Ellsworth County,” said Ellsworth Police Chief Emil Halfhill in a telephone interview with the Independent-Reporter that afternoon.

At 5:45 a.m. officers responded to 1215 N. Colorado St. The parents of the boy said he was last seen as the family was going to bed. When they woke up at 5:30 a.m., the boy was not found sleeping in his bed or elsewhere inside the home.

“The parents were pretty quick to give us a call after they checked the home; Halfhill said.

Officers were told the boy had a history of sleep walking, but he had never left the house before. Officers from the Ellsworth Police Department, along with personnel from the Ellsworth County Sheriff’s Office, the Ellsworth Fire Department, Ellsworth EMS and the Kansas Highway Patrol began the search and found the boy safe inside a neighborhood residence 75 minutes later. He was returned to his parents. Halfhill believes the boy did, by all likelihood, sleep walk

In addition to the first responders, Halfhill credited social media and the sheriff office “Nixie” program for releasing information to the public on the search via text message.