Missing 5-year-old Nevada boy found at casino

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- A five-year-old North Las Vegas boy who was reported missing overnight with a 22-year-old family acquaintance was found Thursday with the man at a southeast Las Vegas casino, police said.

Amari Connor appeared to be unharmed, but was being checked at a hospital after he was located with Shaquille Pierce a little before 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Sam's Town hotel-casino, North Las Vegas police Officer Ann Cavaricci said.

The boy had been missing for almost 26 hours.

Amari was still wearing the clothes he had on when he left home: a red polo shirt with a black stripe and white design, khaki shorts, multi-colored sneakers and a red "LA" hat, Cavaricci said. Police had said he also had a blue backpack with him.

Cavaricci said Pierce changed his own clothing from the gray sweatshirt, leopard-print leggings, red shoes and pink sunglasses he was wearing on Wednesday. She didn't describe his new outfit.

Pierce was arrested and was expected to face a felony kidnapping charge, Cavaricci said. It wasn't immediately clear if Pierce had a lawyer.

"Anytime that you have a child who is not with a parent, the parents can't locate them, can't tell you where they are and are searching for that child and haven't seen that child in 24 hours, that's rise for concern for us," Cavaricci told CBS affiliate KLAS during the search.

Pierce and the boy were last seen about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at the boy's family's home. Amari was reported missing after Pierce didn't return him home several hours later.

The FBI and Red Rock Search and Rescue volunteers joined the search Thursday. Cavaricci said searchers went house-to-house in the boy's neighborhood.

She said authorities received numerous tips, but wouldn't say what exactly led them to Sam's Town.

Police didn't think Pierce had a vehicle, and Cavaricci said the two might have walked the 8-plus miles to the casino on Boulder Highway.

An Amber Alert wasn't issued because authorities didn't know if a crime had been committed. But Cavaricci said the boy's family and police were concerned because Pierce wasn't a family member.