On Jan. 21 at approximately 9:30 a.m. the Humboldt County sheriff’s office was called by a mother of a 34-year-old man who reported he was missing. The mother told the investigating deputy her son was living with her and she lived at a residence approximately one mile from US 101 in Alton.

She said her son texted her from his cell phone and said he was dropped off at the base of her road. When she woke up at 6 a.m. her son was not home.

She and other family members searched for him and could not find him. They located shoeprints that appeared to be her son’s that led off the road and into the brush. She was concerned he was lost, had a medical problem or had fallen into the nearby Van Duzen River.

A search and rescue was initiated. At 4 p.m. the son contacted his mother and told her he was home and safe.