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A clerk employed by CVS at its Rose Hill location off Columbus Avenue in Thornwood saw this Mount Pleasant Police Department Facebook post about the missing youth, saying, "I think the boy you are looking for just walked out of our store," according to Lt. Robert Miliambro, a police department spokesman.
The 18-year-old boy identified as "Bruce," who has autism, was gone by the time police arrived at CVS, but was found safe shortly after the pharmacy clerk's call, police said.
Miliambro said the CVS tip helped police refocus their search in woods behind the shopping center. A Westchester County Police Department helicopter also helped find Bruce about 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 3. His discovery came more than two days after the youth went missing from a residential center in Hawthorne.
Bruce was rescued after an extensive search by the Town of Mount Pleasant Police Department, a bloodhound led by New York State Police and the Westchester County Police helicopter crew. Miliambro said police were about to send a second bloodhound into the woods to search when Bruce was found.
"He's a highly-functional boy, but I did not want him out in the woods another night,'' Miliambro told Daily Voice.
Miliambro said the youth did not suffer any injuries but stayed at a Westchester County hospital overnight Wednesday for a precautionary checkup.
He is a resident of the Goldsmith Center located on the grounds of Hawthorne Cedar Knolls.
Wednesday's search -- as reported here earlier by Daily Voice -- was assisted by dozens of area residents. They initially focused on the Rolling Hills neighborhood in Thornwood near Columbus Avenue and Nannyhagen Road.
During the hour leading up to Bruce's discovery, a helicopter flown by Westchester County Police circled the wooded area behind Rose Hill Shopping Center where Bruce was found safe.
Earlier Wednesday, police warned the public that the youth does not get along well with strangers and could become violent. He was reported missing in woods behind the Hawthorne campus near Sutton Park and the dead end area of Rolling Hills Road on Monday, Aug. 1.
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