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MISSING TODDLER FOUND ALIVE
By Jordan Cohen
NORTH BLOOMFIELD
Searchers are calling it a miracle.
After disappearing for two days, 2-year-old Rainn Peterson was found Sunday evening unharmed in a field off Peck-Leach Road, less than a half mile south of the North Bloomfield home where she had been staying.
The child was described as cold and wet but apparently unhurt. Rainn immediately was taken by ambulance to St. Joseph Hospital in Warren, where a nursing supervisor refused to comment when asked about the child’s condition.
Trumbull County Chief Deputy Ernest Cook said Rainn was found by Victor Sutton of North Bloomfield, who had been driving a four-wheel all- terrain vehicle to search for the girl.
“He told us he heard some whimpering, drove up and found her huddled in the tall grass,” Cook said. “What are the chances?”
Sutton lives near the home where Rainn had been staying before she disappeared.
“This guy’s a local hero,” Cook said.
Sutton’s discovery occurred not long before the search was to be suspended because of darkness, as had been the case Saturday.
In the two days Rainn had been missing, overnight temperatures were in the 40s. She had been clad only in a purple shirt, pants and tennis shoes and was not wearing a coat.
The child had been staying at the state Route 45 home of her great-grandparents, who reportedly had temporary custody of the girl and her two brothers. She apparently wandered off shortly after 6 p.m. Friday without the family realizing it.
What followed was an intensive search involving nearly 100 law-enforcement agencies and 450 volunteers, according to Trumbull Sheriff Thomas Altiere. The sheriff said he did not issue an AMBER alert usually activated for missing children because there was no evidence that Rainn had been abducted.
“We had no indication whatsoever of any foul play,” Altiere said.
Hundreds had fanned out in the fields and wooded areas of North Bloomfield and Bristolville all day Saturday and Sunday, while helicopters took high-definition photography and single-engine airplanes flew search patterns. On the ground, a phalanx of searchers on horseback and search dogs brought in from Columbus joined the walkers who scoured wooded areas, farming fields and culverts.
“We scoped out just about every culvert we could find,” Altiere said. “We didn’t want to leave anything unturned.”
The FBI, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Marshals Violent Crime Task Force were among the many law-enforcement agencies joining the search. The Ohio Attorney General’s office had posted an advisory about the missing girl on its website.
The child’s mother, Brandi Peterson, could not be reached for comment after her daughter was found. She was not at the house when her daughter disappeared.
Cook praised the support from the community and law enforcement.
“There are many bad days in law enforcement, but this was one of the good ones,” he said.