Missing kid in midnight Mercer County, NJ alert found safe

🚨 Boy last seen riding his bike

🚨 Mercer County residents get midnight alert

🚨 Search includes helicopters, drones, and dogs

HOPEWELL BOROUGH — An 11-year-old boy is safe and with his family after a large search over the weekend.

Authorities sent out a public safety alert to Mercer County residents around midnight early Sunday morning.

It said the boy from Hopewell Borough was last seen riding his bike around 3:30 p.m.

His family called the police that night around 9 p.m. after he didn't come home, according to police.

Local police briefly searched for the boy before contacting the Child Abduction Response Team with the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office.

A large search effort was launched including helicopters, drones, and dogs. Officers also looked on foot and ATVs. It involved state police, county sheriff's officers, and volunteers from multiple fire departments.

ALSO SEE: 4-year-old child stabbed in Paterson, NJ home taken to hospital

Two detectives with Hopewell police and the MCPO found the child around 1:15 a.m. off a trail near Stony Brook Road. He was returned to his family safe and sound.

Unsolved missing persons cases

Not all disappearances in New Jersey have happy endings.

Nine people are on the Newark FBI's kidnapped or missing list including six people who vanished when they were children.

All but one would now be adults.

Dulce Maria Alavez is the only person on the missing list who is still a juvenile. She was last seen in Bridgeton in 2019.

RELATED: 4 years later: What missing NJ girl Dulce Alavez might look like

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