Brothers praised for finding missing 11-year-old boy in Stanly County

STANLY COUNTY, N.C. — A mother in Stanly County is grateful to the community that helped her missing 11-year-old son, Dusty, get home safe.

“It was scary,” Billie Begquist said. “He got in trouble. We told him to go inside and we’d take care of it when we’d get back in.”

However, when she went to look for her son, he was gone.

“We couldn’t find him anywhere -- looked all over the yard,” Begquist said. “My heart dropped, like, ‘Oh my gosh. Where is he? He’s never done this before.’”

She thought of some worst-case scenarios.

“The way the world is now, it’s like anything could have happened to him now -- anything,” Begquist told Channel 9. “Someone could have picked him up off the side of the road.”

She called the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office and deputies sent out a “reverse 911″ call. It told neighbors to be on the lookout for a boy who was last seen near Poplin Road in Richfield.

[ALSO READ: Stanly County bridge closes for repairs]

The sheriff’s office said two brothers checked Facebook and saw the office’s post with the information. The duo decided to look for Dusty and found him 10 minutes later. He was found just a few miles from his home, at Stanly Middle School.

“I thank Jesus, and I thank everyone out there because if it wasn’t for them, Dusty wouldn’t have been found,” Begquist said.

>> Reading this story in our app? The new “Follow the Lead” feature allows you to tap the blue tag indicated with a ’+' to subscribe to alerts on the very latest breaking news updates.

Stanly County parent concerned about students’ safety at upcoming spring dance

Cox Media Group