NEW SPRINGFIELD After major search, little girl is found safe

Everyone at the scene was celebrating after a worrisome story had a happy ending.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
NEW SPRINGFIELD -- Even the most skeptical among us might be inclined to believe in miracles after a firefighter found a 21/2-year-old girl, wet and shivering, in woods at dusk behind a strip mine.
The girl, Catie Leipply, a daughter of Gari Lynn Leipply and Joseph Patton, disappeared about 3:50 p.m. Wednesday from the home of her aunt, Sherrie Burnette, at 13603 Beard Road. The girl was accompanied by Rascal, a 3-year-old female German shepherd, the girl's constant playmate.
Burnette said Catie, of Petersburg, disappeared while they were flying a kite at the Beard Road address. About 6:45 p.m., Dan Bender, a Springfield Township volunteer firefighter, found Catie about a mile away in the woods behind the Thompson Bros. strip mine, 3379 E. Garfield Road. The dog, which is owned by Burnette's boyfriend, Donald McCambridge of the Beard Road address, was found nearby.
"She came over to fly her kite. The kite broke. I ran inside to fix it just for a second. And she walked outside, and I was talking to her as she was outside. And when I could no longer hear her, I put my stuff down and went out, of course, and she was just gone," Burnette said, adding that Catie had never wandered off before.
"I just asked her what she was doing. She said she and Rascal went for a walk," Burnette said after speaking to Catie after her return. "Catie says that Rascal is her best friend. Whenever she's here, they're inseparable."
She added that the dog is "very protective" of Catie.
"It was a group effort. I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time," Bender said. Rescuers had just finished a thorough search of the square-mile section where Burnette resides, after finding some southbound footprints that appeared to be those of a small child, when Bender decided to head farther south by himself.
Bender said he initially thought that the pine forest he went through was so thick that Catie wouldn't have gotten through. He was ready to give up his search of that area for the time being, but then he heard yelling in some thick brush and found her.
"She was alert and oriented and just shivering," said Bender, explaining that he and Catie were wet because the area is swampy.
"I was concerned about hypothermia," Bender said. "There are a lot of small ponds in the area, and that's what we were really nervous about. She probably walked by three or four small ponds.
"If it had gotten dark, we'd have had real problems," he said, noting that even with an army of searchers, finding a small child in such a large area was difficult. Bender found Catie just as rescuers were getting ready to bring out search lights and lanterns.
Searchers: At least 100 people participated in the search, including Springfield Township police, firefighters and rescue squad personnel; Beaver Township police and firefighters; a Boardman police dog; the Ohio State Highway Patrol; and numerous volunteers, including some on all-terrain vehicles.
Also participating were Trail Dogs of Struthers, Explorer Post 449 and search and rescue units from Pennsylvania. People parked their cars on the side of the road and joined the search when they learned what was happening.
"This whole community was wonderful," said a tearful and relieved Burnette. "Within a matter of 15 minutes, everybody was here. We just searched and searched, and, you know, as it got darker, it got more frightening, especially back around the dump because there are coyotes and wolves," Burnette said. "You're in the country now," she reminded reporters from Youngstown. The dump is an active landfill across Garfield Road from the working Thompson strip mine.
An airplane also assisted in the search. An OSHP helicopter was en route from Columbus, but Bender found Catie before it arrived.
Found: As Catie and the dog were brought back to the Beard Road address, family members, overjoyed by the safe return, hugged one another. From there, Catie was taken by ambulance to Tod Children's Hospital for overnight observation.
"It's just a great relief to see that the little girl was located, especially within minutes before it got dark," said Matthew R. Mohn, Springfield Township police chief.