Missing Little Elm 10-year-old found safe thanks to Amber Alert

LITTLE ELM, Texas - There's good news to report about the Amber Alert for a missing 10-year-old boy in Denton County.

Little Elm police said the child was found safe and was reunited with his family.

An Amber Alert was issued late Wednesday night for the boy.

He disappeared after walking away from his apartment complex near Main Street, north of Highway 380 in Little Elm.

Security cameras captured an image of him wearing a light-colored hoodie, dark-colored joggers, and dark-colored shoes when he disappeared.

There was a police search conducted for several hours on Wednesday night. It was scheduled to resume Thursday morning, but that wasn't needed.

Henry Smith told FOX 4 he got the Amber Alert on his phone and happened to spot the boy as he was filling up with gas.

"It came out 20 minutes before I woke up, and so it's still fresh in my mind. It's been all over Facebook and the Ring app. It's everywhere right now and I just happened to be thinking of it when I pulled up and saw him," he recalled.

It was a situation where Smith was in the right place at the right time. 

"He was just walking in by himself and I had the Amber Alert already pulled up. It matched the description. So I went in there and asked him to make sure it was him," he said. 

Smith said the boy confirmed his name and said he was okay.

"I walked in and talked to him. ‘Hey bud, are you Kylin?’ And he shook his head," he said. "I told him, ‘You know everybody’s looking for you, right?' And he said no. So that's when I contacted the authorities."

Smith said officers responded to the gas station within what felt like seconds.

"I was still on the phone with 911," he said.

FOX 4's cameras captured the happy moment the boy was reunited with a family member outside the gas station.

"I feel good, you know. I'm glad I was able to help a family reunite. I am a parent myself. I couldn't image going through anything like this myself," Smith added. "Anything I could do to make sure that that family is okay, I'm glad I could help."

The nationwide Amber Alert program started in the early 2000s following the kidnapping and murder of Arlington 9-year-old Amber Hagerman.

It is still actively used, as many of us know from the cell phone notifications.

So far this year, there have been seven Amber Alerts in Texas, and all of the children were found. 

In 2023, there were 46 alerts statewide, a 77% increase over the 26 alerts the year before. 

Many would call Smith's fast action heroic, but he told us he just did what any good person would do. 

"I'm not a hero, just a parent who understands," he said.

Police have not released any details about the boy's disappearance. They have only confirmed he's now safe.