Police search for man

after missing boy

found

March 23, 2004

A 7-year-old boy who disappeared Monday night from Anderson's Kmart store was found this morning at a grocery store on Greenville Street.

The boy, Hunter Allen Thompson of Anderson, called 911 himself from the Winn-Dixie store on Greenville Street.

Anderson County Sheriff’s Capt. John Skipper said the boy exited a vehicle that had pulled up to the Winn-Dixie.

Police are now looking for a white male wearing a white pullover tee-shirt and gray shorts. He was driving a white, four-door vehicle with a gray interior.

Police said the boy was taken to the Anderson Area Medical Center but that he seemed to be unharmed. Capt. Skipper would not speculate as to whether the boy knew the man.

Capt. Skipper said the boy had gone to Kmart with his mother and father.

Hunter is a first-grader at Concord Elementary School.

Searchers who had gathered at Kmart cheered when rescue coordinator Dale Horne told them the boy was found.
"We did a good job. We found him," he said.

The boy's disappearance prompted the activation of the statewide Amber Alert system for missing children.

Anyone with information about the car or the man police are searching for is asked to call 911 and ask for the Anderson County Sheriff's Office.