BEDFORD (WSLS 10) - The search for a missing 18-year-old with autism is over.
Timothy Kilpatrick was found safe a half-mile away from his Bedford home along Big Island Highway just after 8 Wednesday morning.
He had been missing since this weekend, after he walked away from home along Jopling Road..
Sheriff Mike Brown made the announcement Wednesday morning that Timothy had been found sleeping outside at a neighbor's home beside their dog kennel.
Billy Chrimes with Virginia Department of Emergency Management said it was an emotional day for everyone involved.
"We are happy that he is safe," Chrimes said.
More than 50 police officers, first responders, members of the FBI, search and rescue crews from Bedford and Montgomery County and dispatchers helped with the search around the clock until they learned Timothy had been found.
He was found on the Key family's farm. Chrimes said they had checked that area the night before but didn't find him.
"That indicates to us that he was moving. It is typical behavior of someone who has autism to be scared of strangers, and we believe that to be the case here," Chrimes said.
The Key family says they knew something was strange when the dogs were barking early Wednesday morning.
"He was laying right over here. Right here," Kaye Key said as she pointed next to their dog kennel at the foot of a wooded mountainous area.
After days searching and praying, Kaye Key's husband found Timothy safe and asleep. Key says dogs in the kennel were trying to lick him, while their Golden Labrador, Hank, was sleeping next to him on the outside.
"These dogs were licking on him from the inside and Hank was laying out here beside of him," Key said. "He (her husband) said this morning 'I prayed to God to help us find him, to find him today,' and he walked right over there and found him."
It's what she says is nothing short of a miracle.
"And I for some reason. I hadn't done it all week, I hollered, ‘Timothy, Timothy, Where are you?'"
Only minutes later. that's when she says her husband found Timothy with Hank their dog.
"It was almost as if he was laying there trying to keep him warm," Key said.
She say's the family had noticed things in their vehicles had been moved, including the emergency brake in her son's vehicle pushed all the way down, which is something he never does.
She says they suspected he might have been hiding in the woods on their property.
"You could tell he had been through barbed wired fences. He was all scratched up and his clothes were torn," Key said. She said he was also found without shoes and had ripped clothing.
After finding him, Key's husband told him to continue sleeping. They let him rest until the police came. The family called 911. Police arrived only minutes later.
Key said he was calm, and almost emotionless when he was found.
Key said he quickly ate and drank crackers and water he was given by first responders, and became emotional when he was reunited with his father.
"He hadn't show any kind of emotion at all until his father got there. He was just all smiles. There were tears falling down everybody's faces at that point," Key said.
Sheriff Brown says their department will be giving assistance to the family to make sure that this doesn't happen again.