(WSVN) - An all out search for an 11-year-old boy in Daytona Beach came to an unexpected end.
“It was dark. I couldn’t see nothing,” said Eleaser Johnson.
“We had been looking for him throughout the night, and then lo and behold, we get the phone call this morning that he was recovered in Jacksonville,” said Jacksonville Police Chief Jakari Young.
Eleaser admits he ran away from home Thursday night.
“I was frustrated over homework that I didn’t want to do,” said Eleaser.
Eleaser said he crawled into the bed of someone’s pick-up truck, wrapped himself in a tarp, and fell asleep.
The next morning, the driver headed to work, unaware a child was in the back.
He drove from Daytona Beach, up to Jacksonville, more than 80 miles away.
“When I looked into the back truck, the tarp was pulled out from under the tool box, and I went to reach for it to grab it, and the young man popped out from under it,” said the driver.
The driver called police, and they helped bring Eleaser back home.
“We thankful to God that he’s home. That’s first and foremost. That’s the top thing,” said a family member.
Eleaser promises, “… to not do it again.”
The driver said Eleaser didn’t say much. He bought him some food before the long drive back home.
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