Search for missing 4-year-old Phenix Wilkerson continues with volunteers from across Alabama

Search for missing 4-year-old Phenix Wilkerson continues with volunteers from across Alabama

Authorities and volunteers are continuing the search for 4-year-old Phenix Wilkerson who went missing Friday afternoon in southeast Alabama.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said the child was last seen around 12:30 p.m. when he disappeared from his family’s camper near Sid Bush Road in Clayton, in Barbour County. He was last wearing a blue tie-dye shirt and gray sweatpants, according to ALEA, which issued a missing child alert Friday. Wilkerson was not wearing shoes.

ALEA’s State Bureau of Investigation and Aviation units are on the scene assisting the Barbour County Sheriff’s Office with the search effort “and will continue to make all resources available,” the law enforcement agency said in an email to AL.com.

There are also reportedly 100 volunteers from throughout the state helping with the search, which is centered around Sid Bush Road, according to WVTY.

Barbour County Sheriff Tyrone Smith told the outlet that Wilkerson was asleep in a camper when his mother went to the restroom at a nearby house. When she returned, he was gone and “she and the man who stayed with the boy when she left contacted authorities when they could not quickly locate the child afterward.”

The boy is described as 3-feet 5-inches tall with hazel eyes and red or auburn hair.

Anyone with information on Phenix’s whereabouts is asked to call the Barbour County Sheriff’s Office at 334-775-3434 or 911.