When two-year-old William Odom went missing from his home, the entire neighborhood got together to search for the boy. Worried he was alone and in danger, the group spent nine hours looking for the missing child.

When his mother woke up, she found the door of her home, which was located in rural Mississippi, wide open and the toddler gone.

But as it turns out he wasn't alone.

"Every time we found his footprint, we found the [family] dog footprint right beside him. So the dog traveled with him all day," Harrison County Sheriff Troy Peterson said. "When the little boy was found the dog was still circling the truck and scratching on the truck."

The two-year-old walked several miles through the woods before crawling into a car and locking the door.

"He probably walked three or four miles through the woods, and his dog stayed right by his side until he got in the car," Peterson said.

The dog still didn't leave his side, however.

Dressed only in a diaper, the boy was found on a piece of property where the car door was unlocked and the windows cracked.

William, who has autism, started honking the car's horn just as students were getting off the bus to go home. One student heard the noise and went to check it out. He found William hiding out in the car and the student went to get his uncle, who notified police.

"His uncle came over and forced the window down. And took the kid out and brought him to us," Peterson told WLOX. "[The boy] was inside the truck apparently sleeping. His back, when we got him, he had a bunch of stripes on his back that matched up to the seams in the truck. So we're thinking he was just in the truck sleeping."

It was a good thing that the student investigated the noise because it would have been a while before rescuers were set to search that area.

"With the grid we were searching, it would have been another hour and a half before we searched the area where he was found," Peterson said.

He was found about 1/4 mile from where rescuers were looking. There was a creek nearby that caused police to be concerned about the boy's safety.

"I gave him a Slim Jim and a Gatorade and he sucked them both down."

About 40 people had joined in on the search, including deputies, firefighters and neighbors to help look for the child.

William appeared to have suffered heat exhaustion and had scratches from walking through the woods, but was found in good health.

"They got my baby-that's all I could think," William's mom told WLOX.

The toddler was reunited with his family and after looking into his disappearance, authorities believe that William may have just wandered off on his own.

"It's an amazing story. We're very thankful that he is in good health. And we brought him home to his family," Peterson added.

Source: People / Sun Herald / AJC / Good Housekeeping