Happy ending to search
2-year-old found in West Ashley woods 21 hours after hunt began
BY GLENN SMITH
Of The Post and Courier Staff
A "faint little voice" from a grassy thicket Friday afternoon answered the question that had plagued a frantic West Ashley family and scores of weary searchers for almost a day: Where is Konrad Knaak?
A desperate 21-hour hunt for the missing 2-year-old came to a happy end when a team of rescuers found the toddler after hearing his cries about 1.5 miles from the spot where he entered a wooded and marshy area on Christmas Day.
"Everyone stopped talking, and then this faint little voice cried out," said Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon, a member of the search team. "We took off down the road ... and there he was just sitting in the grass just as fine as he could be."
Capt. Gary Durgin of the Charleston County Volunteer Rescue Squad said Konrad put his arms around one of the rescuers and asked for his father.
"He had a smile on his face, and by the time we got out to the road he was laughing," Durgin said.
As dozens of weary searchers cheered in unison, the smiling boy was carried from woods near his family's East Estates Boulevard home by his father.
Offering a small wave to the crowd that had trekked through muck and bramble to find him, Konrad appeared unharmed by his journey through the thick woods on a night when temperatures dipped into the low 30s. Many in the crowd called it "a Christmas miracle."
"We're just thankful he's all right," said his mother, Kathleen Knaak, choking back tears as she clutched her son to her side in the back of an ambulance. "We just want to say thank you to everybody ... who came out."
"This went from being about the worst day of our life to the best day of our life," said his father, Christian Knaak, who became separated from the boy during a walk through the woods Thursday afternoon. "We couldn't be happier."
The search for Konrad began about 4:30 p.m. Thursday when frantic family members called Charleston police after the boy and his father became separated. Soon the area was jammed with would-be rescuers hunting for the blond-haired boy.
The search covered about 1,300 acres of former hunting land covered with dense woods, water-filled holes, marshes and trenches. The search continued through the night and into Friday as police used helicopters, boats, divers and trained dogs to look for the boy. More than 30 law enforcement officers and 300 volunteers assisted in the effort.
By Friday afternoon, however, some were beginning to wonder whether time was running out for Konrad.
Charleston Police Chief Reuben Greenberg was briefing a crowd of more than 100 volunteer searchers when an officer pulled him aside to tell him some news. As Greenberg walked quickly toward the police command post, the crowd surged after him, trampling over a line of yellow police tape as they neared the edge of the woods.
As whispers passed through the crowd and people craned their necks to see what was going on, a burly man ran to the front of the line and shouted: "He's alive! They found the boy alive!"
People began clapping, crying and cheering. A few minutes later, Kathleen Knaak, who is pregnant and due to give birth in February, walked from the woods with tears streaming down her face. Christian Knaak followed close behind her, carrying Konrad in his arms. Konrad offered a shy smile and waved to the jubilant crowd before he was whisked away to be checked by paramedics.
As he sat in an ambulance a short time later, Konrad seemed frightened by the television cameras and the crush of people straining to get a look at him. The Rev. Rob Dewey, senior chaplain with the Coastal Crisis Chaplaincy, boosted the boy's spirits by bringing him a doughnut.
Dewey said that at the time Konrad was found, parishioners at the boy's church, the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Charleston, were holding a prayer service for him.
"What a relief," said Ernest Chambers, a neighbor involved in the search since Thursday afternoon. "It really is a miracle."
"This is the best Christmas present ever," said fellow volunteer Alison Stannard.
The volunteers came from throughout the Lowcountry and from nearly every walk of life. There were off-duty police officers, real estate brokers, laborers, mothers and fathers, and people simply moved by news of the missing boy.
"Every imaginable type of person you can think of is coming in and saying 'What can I do?' " Charleston police Lt. James Doyle said. "It's just a magnificent response."
Volunteers gathered on a lawn outside a community center Friday morning, waiting for police to call their names to join a search team, usually composed of about 10 members each. Many went back over the same ground already trod several times by other search parties. They didn't care; they just wanted to help.
"I can just imagine how this family feels knowing he's out there," Chris Rapchick, 15, said during the search. "It's Christmastime. We need to find him for them."
Scott Gysel of Summerville knew all too well what Konrad's family was going through. His stepmother died from exposure three years ago in the Upstate after she lost her house keys and became disoriented wandering through woods around Christmastime. Gysel, whose stepmother wasn't found for two days, felt he needed to help with the search for Konrad.
"I hate to see anyone go through this," he said. "It's not about me. It's about a 2-year-old boy. He doesn't need to be out there. He needs to be home with his family."
Charles Bruce, who lives in the neighborhood, felt the same way. After hearing of Konrad's disappearance Thursday afternoon, he and his family abandoned their plans for Christmas dinner to help with the search. He spent about seven hours in the woods Thursday night and returned the next morning to hunt for five hours.
"All we needed to know was that a kid was missing," he said as he sprawled on the grass late Friday morning in his bare feet, his muddy shoes beside him.
Shortly after 1 p.m., Greenberg assembled the volunteers and told them the search had produced no trace of Konrad. He explained that police officers were checking some areas spotted by helicopter and urged the crowd to be patient and stay close in case their help was needed.
At the same time, a search team with Cannon, police officers and rescue workers was rumbling through the woods on all-terrain vehicles.
Charleston police Detective Sgt. Barry Goldstein, a member of the team, said a witness had approached them and spoke of seeing the boy and his father deeper in the woods Thursday than originally was thought.
"The witness volunteered to go with us, and a group of us went out," he said.
Cannon said the group paused at one point and he walked along the road a quarter-mile to look around. When he returned, his fellow searchers were sitting on their ATVs, but they had stopped talking.
That's when someone heard a little cry about 1:20 p.m., Goldstein said. When they rushed in and found the boy, he had a cut on his lip but seemed otherwise unharmed, he said.
Goldstein and Cannon said Konrad appeared to have moved quite a distance through the woods during the time he was lost.
Cannon said the boy apparently lost sight of his father and started walking along the trail in hopes of finding him. He said the episode shows people can sometimes underestimate the determination and sturdiness of children.
"For his age, he traveled a very long distance," Durgin said. "I guess those little legs can carry him."
