The mother of a three-year-old boy who was found safe Friday morning after wandering away from his northern Greene County home called The Greeneville Sun Friday afternoon to express heartfelt thanks for the fast response of neighbors and sheriff's deputies when she discovered her son was missing.

Kristen (Mrs. Jimmy) Thach, of Roaring Fork Road, told the Sun late Friday afternoon that her son, David, 3, "just took off" from their residence that morning.

"I was in my house, and he just took off," she said. "I went to use the restroom, and when I came back, he was gone."

Frantic, she immediately called 911 and was quickly connected with the Greene County Sheriff's Department.

Within only a few minutes -- so fast that "I was really amazed," she said -- at least five Sheriff's Department cars reached her home on Roaring Fork Road and began combing the area for the three-year-old.

She said she believes as many as six deputies took part in the search.

Meanwhile, she explained, she had also hurried to neighbors' homes to ask if they had seen David. No one had seen him, "but they just took it upon themselves to come out and start looking for him."

"This whole road was looking for him!" she said gratefully.

A short time later, the child was found unharmed by a sheriff's deputy about a half-mile from the Thach home.

The little boy was unharmed and was accompanied -- and aggressively protected -- by the family's two pet dogs, especially a purebred pit bulldog named "Baby." Also accompanying David was the family's Jack Russell terrier, "Sassy."

Kristen Thach said that, when her little boy was discovered, a deputy came to get her and told her that David had been found but that the pit bull would not let anyone near him.

By the time she reached the scene, though, she continued, Deputy Jimmy Morgan had David in his arms and was bringing him to her. She never learned how Morgan had managed to get past the pit bull, she said.

Thach repeatedly expressed her deepest thanks to both the deputies and her neighbors.

"They did such a great job!" she said, "And without them, we probably wouldn't have found him."

A Greene County Sheriff's Department dispatcher told the Sun that the boy was reported missing from his home in the 2800 block of Roaring Fork Road at 10:26 a.m., but was found a short time later by Deputy Sheriff Morgan.

"I was just lucky enough to find him," Morgan said Friday, noting that Sgt. Glenna Estepp and Deputy Michael Jones also were searching for the missing boy, along with several neighbors of the missing youth.

During a telephone interview about noon, Deputy Morgan said officers had been told that the boy might be with his pet dogs and that he had been missing for about 30 minutes.

While searching a creek bank near the boy's home, Morgan said, he heard dogs barking in the distance, returned to his patrol car, and drove in the direction of the barking dogs.

Shortly thereafter, he located the three-year-old.

When David was discovered, the officer said, the boy was "looking at some cows" in a pasture.

"He said he had been down to the water," Morgan said, noting that the boy was apparently talking about a small creek near where he was found.

Radio transmissions between Greene County 911 and Greene County-Greeneville Emergency Medical Services indicated that Mrs. Thach requested that he be "checked out" by EMS personnel due to possible dehydration and exposure to the sun.

However, Deputy Morgan said the boy did not require transportation to a hospital.

"He just had a little adventure," Morgan said.

-- Editor John M. Jones Jr. also contributed to this article.