Six-year-old Jacob Lee Lagerquist was found alive and well this afternoon about three-quarters of a mile north of his house on St. Louis County Highway 4 after being missing for 21 hours.
Lagerquist was found in the woods at about 3:30 p.m. by a volunteer from nearby Biwabik.
Jacob was quickly reunited with his parents and then was checked by paramedics but appeared fine.
Minutes later Ted Lagerquist carried Jacob in his arms to the end of the family's driveway to meet with reporters.
It was the happy ending that everyone was hoping for but not even the father was expecting.
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"Praise the lord!'' Ted Lagerquist said. "I expected the worst. God bless everybody... It's been a tough 24 hours for us.''
Jacob said he spent the night "out in the woods. I was sleeping out there,'' the six year old told reporters. Search officials said temperatures dropped to about 45 degrees overnight and that hypothermia and exposure were a concern.
Jacob was found by Tim Baldonado of Biwabik Township, a volunteer who has a child the same age as Jacob. He was searching in a group of 10 volunteers and first saw the boy hugging a small tree about 25 feet away.
"He was standing next to a tree. I was calling his name, and he called 'Mommy','' Baldonado said. "He asked me if I knew his mom and his dad.''
Baldonado said he hugged the boy and quickly carried him out to a nearby road. The boy was found about 25 feet off a road, with dense underbrush in between.
More than 100 people had been looking for Lagerquist since he went missing just after 6 p.m. Monday night. The family lives about seven miles south of Biwabik, or about 60 miles north of Duluth.
Searchers had been combing through swamps, thick woods and dense underbrush.
"You have thick areas, open areas, rivers and swamps. And the swamps are horrendous,'' St. Louis County Sheriff Ross Litman said just hours before the boy was found.
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Heather Kothbauer of Superior, Jacob's cousin, joined the search with her husband, Jeff, early Tuesday. She said the family was thankful for the outpouring of support.
"He's an outgoing, curious, 6-year-old boy,'' she said. "The number of searchers is just great.''
Jacob lives with his parents, Ted and Missy Lagerquist, a younger sister, and Ted Lagerquist's parents.
Josh Larson, who lives about five miles from the Lagerquists, joined the search about noon.
"I have a lot of nephews the same age," Larson said. He and seven other searchers spaced themselves 30 feet apart and walked about a mile.
"There were lots of little ponds, lots of old junk cars back there -- lots of places he could be," said Larson, who is taller than six feet, was wet to his knees.
For more of this story, check back to duluthnewstribune.com and read tomorrow's Duluth News Tribune.
