Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office press release: 

On 10-20-2015 at 7:04 PM the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a reported missing child from a residence located in the 27000 block of Fox Road in Willits, California. The residence was located in a remote rural portion of the Brooktrails subdivision.

Upon arrival deputies learned Brett Paul Brown, 5-years-old, left the family residence at 4:30 PM indicating he was “going on a field trip”.

Brett was last seen by a sibling walking uphill in a southwestern direction into a heavily wooded area adjacent to the family’s residence. Brett was with the family’s dog “Tank” described as being a 5 year-old black Labrador retriever wearing an orange collar.

Brett was described as being 4 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 50 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Brett was last seen wearing a black T-shirt, blue jeans and orange style tennis shoes.

Deputies began an immediate search of the area with the assistance of personnel from the Brooktrails Fire Department and Mendocino County Search and Rescue.

During this time a reverse 911 notification call was sent out to the surrounding areas near where Brett was last seen.

Due to the circumstances of Brett’s disappearance a mutual aid request was made for further assistance which included personnel from CALFIRE, Marin County Search and Rescue, San Mateo Search and Rescue, California Highway Patrol, Willits Police Department, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), REACH air ambulance, Lake County Sheriff’s Office, California Rescue Dog Association (CARDA), Bay Area Mountain Rescue, Sonoma County Search and Rescue, California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and Falck ambulance service.

On 10-21-2015 at approximately 7:55 AM search teams found Brett in a heavily wooded area approximately 2 miles from his family’s residence. Brett was alive and appeared to be in good health.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank all the personnel and public safety agencies that assisted in the search operation.