10-year-old girl who got lost in woods while sleepwalking is found safe by thermal-imaging drone: ‘Truly a miracle’
A 10-year-old girl got lost in dense Louisiana woods after sleepwalking out of her home — before being saved thanks to a helpful drone operator who spotted her using thermal images.
Peyton Saintignan went missing from her home near Shreveport around 10 p.m. Sept. 14, Webster Parish Sheriff Jason Parker told “” Monday.
The ꦓyoungster reportedly wa🦄s sleepwalking when she wandered away from her home.
Parker said that when his office was notified, “family and neighbors had already been looking for her about an hour” before the sheriff, Louisiana State Police and hundreds of volunteers joined in to find the missing child.
A trail 🅠camera used by hunters deep in the wilderness snapped a picture of the 10-year-old and was all the search and rescue party ha🧜d to track her down.
However,💎 drone operator Josh Klober caught word of the massive search for Peyton and wanted to help.
Traveling 40 miles from hi൩s home in Arkansas, Kl♍ober arrived on Sept. 15 with a drone with thermal image capabilities from his company, Drone Management Services LLC, and started scoping the area.
Parker said the sheriff’s department helped Klober set up his gear, including a generator and a large flat-screen TV, before launching his drone.
Klober loc🔯ated Peyton curled up in the fetal position on the ground in thick woods about 20 minutes after his dr♐one took flight.
“We saw the purple and white pajamas that she had been wearing,” Klober told the outlet.
“She was laying there. She wasn’t moving and everybody was just kind of holding their breath.”
Officials were able to direct rescuers to her location, and moments later, around 11 p.m., the sleepwalking child was woken up by her best friend’s dad and taken to safety.
Pey🍸ton had managed to walk over 1.5 miles from her home when sh🉐e was found.
Parker said it was “truly a miracle” that the 10-year-old was unharmed when she was found.
“Other than some mosquito bites, she was perfect,” Parker said.
First responders and Ch𒈔ild Protective Serviceꦰs checked her before returning home.
Peyton’s family told the police the girl was a known sleepwalker but had never left their home in the past.
“She was very happy to go back to her loved ones and was very glad to go back home,” the sheriff told the outlet.
The exact cause of sleepwalking — also known as somnambulism — is unknown.
Ho♚wever, researchers believe genetics may play a signi𒊎ficant role, according to the .
It’s more common for children to sleepwalk than adults, and most children grow out of it when they reach their teenage years.
“If one parent has a history of sleepwalking, their child has a 47% chance of also doing it. That goes up to 62% if both parents have a history of sleepwalking,” according to the nonprofit academic medical center.
It often occurs one to two hou♛rs after falling asleep.
Though genetics appears to be liꦿnked to most cases, it can be brought on by other factors such as stress, sleep depriva🌞tion, sleep schedule disruptions, brain-related diseases, and medications like Ambien and Lopressor.
