An all out search was underway Monday night in the San Bernardino National Forest for a little boy missing since late morning. Late in the evening, deputies said the search would continue through the night.
"He was able to squeeze between the fence and escape into the forest, we believe," said Lt. Rick Els of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
Joshua Robb, 8, was last seen as he was running from Grandview Elementary School in Twin Peaks. His father, Ron Robb, said the boy had been taken into protective custody last month, and he strongly suspects he ran away from school to find his parents.
Robb says his family had been forced out of their home last month by a foreclosure proceeding. He says a realtor called government officials, after noticing that the boy had been restrained.
"We had to lightly tether him while we were moving stuff out of our house," said Ron Robb. "We know for a fact that the reason he escaped was because he was trying to look for mom and dad."
The boy was described as an autistic white male, four and one-half feet tall, 60-75 pounds with brown hair.
School officials notified sheriff's at the Twin Peaks station about the missing boy as soon as they discovered he was gone, which launched a search involving deputies, citizen volunteers, and California Highway Patrol officers.
