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Hours later, after an intense search by local and state police, K9 teams and a helicopter crew, the little boy was found only a quarter mile from his home, WXMI reported.

He was covered in mud, but despite being on his own from 9:30 p.m. until 4:00 a.m., he was not hurt, and waved down a deputy searching for him, wanting to pet the police officer's K9.

WXMI posted a photo from the rescue on its Twitter site.

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Scott Jackson (right), business service consultant for WorkSource Fulton, helps job seekers with their applications in a mobile career center at a job fair hosted by Goodwill Career Center in Atlanta. (Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC)

Credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC