The finding of Rainn Peterson is called, "An act of God". NORTH BLOOMFIELD, Ohio – The volunteers who searched for two days through the thicket and fields of this Northeast Ohio farming community proclaimed the finding of missing toddler Rainn Peterson an act of God.
Authorities said the toddler padded away from her great-grandparents' home Friday night and into nearby fields, where she wandered for two days. Her disappearance prompted more than 400 volunteers and 150 police officers, who used search dogs and helicopters to find the child.
And when volunteer searcher Victor Sutton found the child covered with flies, nearly 48 hours after she went missing, the tiny community whooped and offered prayers of thanks.
An ambulance took her to a hospital in Warren, and preliminary reports indicate that she emerged unharmed, except for dehydration.
"I swear, you're going to be OK,'' Sutton told the toddler, according to a tape of a 911 call. He stopped and told the dispatcher: "I couldn't give up on this kid. Thank God. ... Oh my God, talk about luck.''
On Monday, the community in northern Trumbull County continued its prayers of thanks.
But residents also began asking haunting questions: How could a tiny 2-year-old survive the 42-degree temperatures Friday night and the heavy rains that soaked the region Saturday? And how could she have wandered so far into fields where coyotes prey on small animals?
"That's the reason why we are trying to backtrack the child's steps,'' said Trumbull County Sheriff Thomas Altiere. "We are ruling nothing out. Our investigation is far from being completed. We finished chapter 1. Now, we are moving to chapter 2.''
Altiere said the child was with her two brothers, both near the age of 5, at their great-grandparents' home on Ohio 45 in North Bloomfield. The great-grandparents, Richard and Dora-Mae Peterson, who are in their 70s, have temporary custody of the children. He could not offer details as to why.
Several attempts to reach the child's mother, Brandi, were unsuccessful. A man at the family's home said the family simply wanted privacy.
On Friday night, Altiere said, Richard Peterson began doing some work in the basement, while his wife was in another part of the split-level home. Altiere said he believes the child went out through an attached garage and through the backyard into adjacent farm fields.
She was gone for a half hour before family members realized it, the sheriff estimated.
Rainn eventually wandered about a half-mile from her great-grandparents' home, much of it over rough terrain. She wore a purple sweatshirt, gray pants and tennis shoes.
Bristol emergency workers transported the child to the hospital. Fire Chief Tom Dempsey said she was awake, alert and crying on the trip.
"We finished chapter 1. Now, we are moving to chapter 2,’’ said Trumbull County Sheriff Thomas Altiere.
Had she gone out the front door, Rainn would have faced a rural highway where drivers routinely hit speeds of 65 mph.
Sutton, like several volunteers, rode through the fields in a four-wheeler. He found the child not far from an oil well.
"As soon as she was found, you could hear people cheering in all of these houses,'' said Perry Turner, who lives near where the child was found. "It's a miracle that she's alive. But it just doesn't add up. You or I couldn't have survived that, and I've hunted all my life. It was cold, and it was wet. She had no shelter. It may be possible, but it's highly improbable.''
Turner spent last weekend on his four-wheeler, searching his 176 acres and looking for the child. He noticed men on horseback searching, as well.
"It raises a lot of questions,'' Turner said. "But I don't give a crap about the questions. I'm just happy that she is alive. Let someone else deal with that.''
A lot of people are. A dozen cars belonging to investigators lined the tiny path that led to the oil well Monday morning, and authorities searched all of the possible routes the child could have taken from her great-grandparents' home.
Ashley King and Jesse Prater of Hartsgrove, in nearby Ashtabula County, spent eight hours searching for the child. King looked through fields, hoping to find a shoe or a diaper.
"Anything,'' she said. "For such a small child to go that long without food or water is amazing,'' King said.
When neighbors began to ask whether a 2-year-old child could walk that far in that weather, King stopped them. "Absolutely,'' she said.
This weekend, they joined scores of volunteers searching for the child. They pushed and prayed and walked through the fields of clover in groups of four and five, seeking the smallest of clues.
The community of less than 3,000 people swelled.
"Everybody around here was looking,'' Turner said. "Everybody.'' Sutton, the man who found the child, lives a few miles from the Petersons. He could not be reached for comment.
His father, Victor, said his son did not want any publicity. Turner knows Sutton's family well, and he praised him for his work ethic and trustworthiness. "He is as honest as the day is long,'' Turner said of Sutton.
Eighteen hours after the child was found, signs around the community showed the town's pride. "Happy for Rainn,'' they said. There were prayer vigils and services. And behind the smiles and the happiness were the haunting questions and feelings of the pain the child experienced in those terrifying 48 hours.
