SOUTHAVEN, MS (abc24.com) - An eight year old Southaven boy is safe after a 12 hour search. Dozens of officers spent the night looking for Cooper Truett after his mother, Jennifer Truett, reported him missing Wednesday night.
Dozens of officers looked for him overnight and Thursday morning. It turns out, the boy slept over at friend's house and his mom apparently knew about it the whole time.
The search cost thousands of dollars, and cops want an explanation. They say the investigation is far from over now that the boy has been found. They've got questions for his mom about how something like this could happen.
"We had anywhere from 12 to 14 police officers and seven detectives," says Southaven Lt. Mark Little. "DeSoto County rescue had 25 of their personnel here. There were two helicopter pilots, a K-9 officer from the sheriff's department and five of our K-9 division all here."
With more than 50 officers and volunteers, Little says it easily cost tens of thousands of dollars for a search that never should have happened.
"We've got to find out the reason why," Little tells abc24.com.
Truett's mom told police her son disappeared around 8 o'clock Wednesday night. Turns out, Truett was with his friend the whole time.
"I talked to his mom," says Surice Holly.
Holly says she called Wednesday night at 11:30 and Truett's mom agreed to let him stay over with her son.
"Police investigated the call showing I did talk to his mother," she says.
Holly's as curious as cops are about why he was reported missing.
"That's what we don't understand, but this is not the first time from what I was told. I know it's not the first time," she says.
We were yelled at when we tried to talk to the mom and told to get away.
"We'll give her time then we'll meet," says Little. "We will find out exactly what happened and if there are any criminal charges that need to be filed."
Cops are reporting this to Child Protective Services. That's required by state law.
Police say they learn from every search and will use what happened today as tool for the future. Taxpayers may not have the same perspective.
