Lakeland resident Laurie Vaughn thought she should look just one more time Sunday (6.7.20) for missing teen Nathan Covarrubias on her Hardeman County farm near Middleton, TN.
She checked a swollen creek bed on the farm property and there was the teen, face down in the sand, 10 days after he disappeared and alive. “It’s a miracle,” said Mrs. Vaughn.
Nathan, a 14-year-old special needs student, went missing from Summits View Ranch for Boys, a residential treatment center for at-risk teens in Walnut, Mississippi, May 29th. A flyer was posted by the Walnut Police Department about the missing teen. Once rescued, he was taken to a hospital for medical evaluation. The farm is about 8 miles from the Ranch and he was missing 10 days.
Mrs. Vaughn credits a special medal and her prayers to God during Sunday Mass in helping her find Nathan.
“I found this medal in a gift shop when I was looking for a birthday gift for my friend last year. I feel like I rescued it because if someone else bought it they might not know what the Miraculous Medal was. I wear it often but this morning when I put it on I held it tightly and told God we really need a miracle for this lost autistic boy over by the farm.
“We went to church and I prayed for this boy and his family. Then we drove out to the farm. Something told me I needed to check the farm one more time. We had searched with Mark Dahler (one of her brothers) on Friday. Mark searched on Saturday but something told me we needed to search again.
“When we got there I jumped on the Gator and headed out. That little voice in my head said, slow down and check the creek bed” and seconds later, there he was. He was face down in the sand on the other side and I assumed he was dead.”
Mrs. Vaughn said she told her daughter Mekenzie to ride back to the farm house and get husband Dan Vaughn, while she called her brother. She wanted Dan to stay close to the boy so they wouldn’t lose track of where he was on the trail. “I was so shaken I cried. I resigned myself to the fact that at least his family would have closure. She said Mark told her to go to the farm gate and wait for the sheriff because the farm is sometimes difficult to find by GPS.
“Then the phone rang while I was at the gate and it was Dan and he said the boy was moving and moaning so I called Mark back and told him to send EMS, He’s alive! It was a miracle the boy was still alive, he was so weak he could barely move.
She said there were police from Hardeman, Tippah and Alcorn Counties along with the FBI within minutes. “A helicopter was enroute and I told them they could land it in the field where we usually have crops but we don’t this year. They took him out of the creek in one of those buckets and airlifted him out of there.
“There is a God and if we all pray together he hears us. So many people were praying for this boy and God heard us. It’s a miracle!”
Mark is a reserve officer with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and heads the security detail at Board of Commissioner meetings in Lakeland in his volunteer capacity. He said his sister Laurie does not visit the family farm often but she wanted to go Friday and search. “The creek was high but we searched, although the farm was outside of the search area,” said Mark. “I had no confidence we would find him but autistic children go to water.”
Mark said Laurie called him Sunday and said she felt Nathan was on the property. An hour later she found him and called me. I called the director of the Shelby County Reserves, Jason Bartlett. He called Hardeman County and everybody gathered. Laurie led them to the spot where Nathan was found.
“The Good Lord must have been whispering in her ear,” Mark said of Laurie.
Facebook video from Mrs. Vaughn:
https://www.facebook.com/lauriedvaughn/videos/10158304819758718/?t=103
… Photos courtesy of Laurie Vaughn
