A 4-year-old boy believed to have been lost in south Alabama woods for more than 50 hours was frightened but appeared to be in good condition when volunteer searchers found him Sunday afternoon.

“He was just looking scared, and he went to cry, but when he seen we weren’t going to hurt him, he was just looking around,’’ said Markeith Williams, who is being credited for finding Phenix Wilkerson.

Phenix, who authorities said is non-verbal, was reported missing about 12:30 p.m. Friday in the area of Sid Bush Road in Barbour County’s Clayton community. His mother, Shyanne Ray, said she had left the family’s camper to go walk over to her mother’s residence and returned a short time later to find her son gone.

ALEA’s Fusion Center issued an Emergency Missing Child Alert on Friday, and multiple searchers – both official and volunteer – turned out to help find Phenix.

Williams, a 25-year-old mechanic from Ozark, said his wife, Valencia, on Saturday said she was determined to go help with the search on Sunday.

“She kept bugging me about it all day yesterday,’’ Williams said. “I told her I was going to church.”

He said when he woke Sunday morning, God had put it on his heart to go help find Phenix.

“I had my auntie, she’s an evangelist, pray for me before we left,’’ he said, “because I said it wasn’t going to work if she didn’t.”

The couple arrived at the command post where searchers were divided into groups.

“We were walking toward the pond, thinking he may have gotten close and gotten in the water,’’ Williams said. “It was hills and ditches and we searched ditches first.”

“As we got about two miles into the woods, everybody was veering off left and right,’’ he said.

“As I was getting closer to him, my heart started rushing so that’s how I knew I was getting close,’’ Williams said. “I knew it was God with me.”

Williams said he and others in group were walking near an area where searchers believed they had seen little footprints in field Saturday when Williams spotted him.

“He was laying probably 150 yards from the field,’’ Williams said.

“It was pretty far off,’’ he said. “I was going to holler, then I thought I’d get a little closer first.”

Williams said the leaves and sticks were crackling underneath his stop as he neared what he believed to be Phenix.

“He looked up,’’ Williams said. “When I got closer and saw the shirt, I was like, ‘There he is.’’

“Everybody just took off running to where he was,’’ Williams said.

Williams said Phenix was wearing the same clothes he was reported to be wearing Friday. He did not appear to be dirty.

“His feet and stuff were pretty clean,’’ Williams said.

He said one searcher put socks on Phenix’s feet, and another a coat. Phenix was given water as one of the searchers held his hand.

An officer eventually carried him to the top of the hill where Phenix was put in an ATV and taken to a waiting ambulance.

Phenix was found about 3:15 p.m. ALEA Sgt. Jeremy Burkett said Phenix was being medically evaluated.

Williams said he’s thankful he could be part of the happy ending.

“I was doing that,’’ he said, “because God sent me to do that.”