Bentley Stancil, 9, spent the night in an RV and even figured out how to feed himself after running away Tuesday morning in Wendell. The search for Bentley ended in happy tears just before noon on Wednesday.
www.wral.com
Family says 9-year-old Wendell boy got lost in woods trying to skip school, play video games
Bentley Stancil, 9, spent the night in an RV and even figured out how to feed himself after running away Tuesday morning in Wendell. The search for Bentley ended in happy tears just before noon on Wednesday.
His father, Brandon Stancil, described the reunion with his son as "the best thing in the world" and on par with the moment the child was born.
Tonight, Bentley is resting safe and sound inside his aunt’s house with only a sprained ankle.
According to his aunt and legal guardian April Poage, he ran away because he wanted to stay home and play video games instead of go to school that day.
“No one expected Xbox to be the reason he tried to skip out on school and not come home," she said. “I couldn’t believe it really was the Xbox because my mind was going a million places – like is there something at school? Maybe somebody is bullying him and he just hadn’t told us about it?"
Bentley left for the school bus on Tuesday morning, but instead, a neighbor saw him drop his backpack and run into the woods near his home. Bentley's aunt says his plan was to skip school and play video games all day, but he saw the neighbor and got scared, thinking he would get caught. He ran off into the woods – but things took a scary turn when he got lost.
Sky 5 flew over the search just before noon as he was reunited with his mom and dad. He was found safe just about 2 miles away from home.
His parents say Bentley took shelter from the frigid temps overnight inside a camper, where he was able to find food – and even had
a furry friend to keep him company.
“It had power so he stayed warm," said his mother Kayla Stancil. "
He had a cat, and we might take him home."
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