Lost Boy Finds Searchers

Friday evening, the television news reported that three-year-old Joseph Leffler was lost in the woods outside Estacada, Oregon.  A massive search was underway.

The lost boy’s plight and his parents’ anguish captured the hearts of people in the northwest.  Throughout the weekend, newspapers and newscasts provided progress reports on the search.  Nothing looked promising.  How long could a three-year-old survive alone in the densely forested hills?  The story continued – Saturday evening, Sunday morning.  The dreaded end appeared inevitable.

Monday morning, July 10, 1988, everything changed.  The front page of the Oregonian proclaimed the news – Joseph Leffler was safe.  Great story.  Happy ending.  Like a sweet taste, this story lingers years later because of the way the Oregonian described the rescue and the headline they ran.  Here is an excerpt from that story:

Joseph walked away from home about 1:00 pm Friday after telling his mother that he was going fishing.  He had taken a three-foot-long section of tube, his favorite pretend fishing pole, to what his parents assumed was the backyard where he usually played.

Joseph was not seen again for nearly 48 hours, prompting a massive search of the area.  But, just before noon on Sunday, little Joseph came walking out of the woods and came straight up to one of the searchers.

“I had to look twice,” said Judy Magill of Milwaukie, who was coordinating the search dogs.  “I couldn’t believe this little boy was walking toward me.  He stretched out his arms and I picked him up,” she said.

Joseph was carried to the command post near the house where his family had been staying.  He was placed in a helicopter and flown to the University Hospital in Portland where he was checked and released.

A front page picture showed little Joseph in his mother’s arms.  He looked bewildered but well.  Above the picture in bold block letter the Oregonian headline read:  LOST BOY FINDS SEARCHERS.

The authors of the story crafted a gem with that headline.

“Lost Boy Finds Searchers” – that raises some intriguing questions:

• Did Joseph really find the searchers?
• What was the true role of the search team?
• What if no one had been there when Joseph wandered out of the forest?
• What if the person Joseph had “found” had hurt rather than rescued him?