UPDATE – Just after 10:50 a.m., the three missing children were found alive at a home nearby. The grandmother told News 2 that the children were found in a closet in that home not far from where they live. The mother of the girls has arrived at the command post and the Sheriff is expected to speak to the media shortly. You can watch that press conference here:
SMOAKS, SC – Colleton County Sheriff’s Deputies will resume the search for three missing children at 7:00 a.m. on Thursday. Two girls, 2-years-old and 4-years-old, and 3-year-old-boy have been missing since 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 9 on Bent Gate Ln in Colleton County. The search was called off shortly after 2:00 a.m. on Thursday morning so detectives could rest.
The 3-year-old boy was last seen wearing a green shirt with camouflage sleeves. The shirt had orange trim around it. He was wearing blue jeans and blue Sperry type shoes with Velcro straps.
The 2-year-old girl was last seen wearing a pink shirt with light pink shorts and had on black boots with fur on the inside.
The 4-year-old girl was last seen wearing a pink dress and had on black boots with fur on the inside. The girls are sisters.
The legal guardian of the children spoke to News 2 and our viewers and said “if I owe anybody, I’d be glad to give you what I got, I don’t got much, but I’d be glad to give it to you. If you don’t want to bring them back to where you got them from, take them to the store, everybody knows me…”
The boy is a cousin of the little girls. A legal guardian of the missing boy also takes care of the missing sisters and they all live together on Bent Gate Lane in Smoaks. He lives with his wife who was at work at the time the kids went missing.
The South Carolina DNR assisted the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday night by searching in the air. At this time, Colleton County Deputies are the only officials at the scene until the search resumes at 7:00 a.m. on Thursday morning.
If you have any information, please call Colleton County Sheriff’s Office at 843-549-2211.
