A Brentwood Elementary kindergartner is safe after a four-hour ordeal on Monday.
Jadaelyn Jackson, 6, was reported missing around 3:45 p.m. when he failed to return home.
He was found about four hours later at a local day care after boarding the wrong bus.
Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Tony Mancuso said Jackson was never in danger and was at the day care the whole time.
“We are just really excited; the
biggest thing is that he’s safe,” said Brentwood Principal Brent
Washington. “We have to
do our investigation to see what happened and from there we’ll
make whatever necessary changes to make sure this doesn’t happen
again.”
The search began when Jackson’s older sister reported that he did not get on the bus with her. Authorities said Jackson was
not seen on video boarding either of the two buses he would have normally taken.
“We got a call from a day care center
that comes to pick up the children that go there and he got on (that)
bus,” said assistant
superintendent Gary Anderson. “They were supposed to have a new
student and thought that the little boy was the student. All
we’re worried about is getting him safe and we’ll work out all the
details.”
Mancuso said an Amber Alert was issued and bus drivers were asked to retrace their routes. Authorities also did a check of
sex offenders within a two-mile radius of the school.
“I’m excited because he’s safe,” said
Brentwood secretary and bookkeeper Courtney Edwards. “We’ve been out
there door-to-door
in the rain and it just hurt us when we came back and didn’t have
anything. We are just blessed he’s back and that he’s safe
with his parents.”