Las Vegas NowMissing 8-Year-Old Boy Found By Alert Citizen

Missing 8-Year-Old Boy Found By Alert Citizen

A missing 8-year-old autistic boy is back home, thanks to an alert citizen. The woman had just seen the boy's missing person flier at a bus stop when she got onboard and noticed the missing boy sitting right next to her.

It took just a about three hours to find the boy. But those three hours were a journey for him. Metro officers say he wanted to go shopping. His babysitter told him no. So he ventured out on is own.

He got on a bus, took it across town and back. Luckily, someone realized he was a missing child, told the bus driver and they flagged down the police.

They pulled the boy off the bus, put him in the police car and took him to his mother.

The bus driver said the 8-year-old autistic boy got on at Bonanza and Pecos and rode the bus all the way to Tropicana and Pecos before anyone noticed who he was.

"I just saw the little boy. I was sitting next to him actually, and I thought he was with someone. I didn't think anything, and she finally figured it out," said Tenika McCree, an eyewitness.

"We just happen to pass a bus stop that had his flier up saying he was missing, and I briefly noticed it, got off the bus, told the bus driver -- let me run all the way down there and get that picture and he is home," said Tinika Witherspoon. 

"Our community does care when you put a flier out there of a child. People take notice and look and it's nice to have that," said Thomas Wagner of Metro.

Metro officers took him home to his mother, then tried talking to him to find out what happened. They are also interviewing the CAT bus driver and looking at video on the bus as well.

Police are investigating how a boy so young managed to get on a public bus alone. But a happy ending thanks to a person who paid attention to a missing person flier.

Email your comments to Reporter Travell Eiland.