Crime & Safety

K9 Tracks Down Missing Autistic 3-year-old Girl in Ossining


An autistic 3-year-old who had wandered away from a Feeney Road residence at 5 p.m. July 19 was found by a police officer and his canine partner.

Westchester County police said they received a 911 call from her grandmother, who had gone inside her Ossining home for a minute and came back out to see a safety barricade had been moved and the girl was gone.

Police began searching immediately, checking the home, neighbors' pools, and the nearby woods. The county's Aviation Unit also searched by helicopter. 

Officer Brian Tierney worked with his tracking dog, Saratoga, a Bloodhound. Saratoga was presented with an item of the child’s clothing and followed her scent through several neighboring yards before leading Tierney to a multi-level swing set that had an attached playhouse, police said. 

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Tierney looked inside the playhouse and saw the child huddled in a corner.

“I would like to commend Officer Tierney and Saratoga for their skillful track of the missing child,” Commissioner George N. Longworth said. “They were able to bring a frightening event for this family to a very quick conclusion.”

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