Brennan's Unexpected Reaction

Volunteers: He Was Wary Of Strangers, Leading To Initial Near-Miss

(CBS)  Brent Lechtenberg, another of the first rescuers on the scene when Hawkins was found, told co-anchor Julie Chen Hawkins was "absolutely spent. Very nonverbal, noncommunicative. But it was really funny. He was actually kind of polite as we gave him water and a few little snacks. He was obviously very hungry and thirsty. But very delirious probably is a really good word."

Lechtenberg was instrumental in overcoming Hawkins' reticence: "It was clear that he was kind of frightened, along with the fact that he was very, very tired. My son happens to know Brennan. There's a considerable age difference, but they have a very close bond. And I let him know that I was Ty's dad and that Ty was worried about him and I could bring him to see Ty. He immediately almost snapped up and wanted me to take him to him right now. I think that helped kind of establish a little bit of trust. And rapport. But he was very, very, very tired and very delirious."

"You would think that he would be a lot more responsive in describing what he had been through. But I was amazed, as I think some of the other guys that were there, he just didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to talk about how he'd spent four cold nights, where he'd slept, what he'd done, how he had somehow avoided all the rescuers who were out looking for him. So it was really something very different than we expected."

Still, Lechtenberg continued, "You can't imagine the excitement and the jubilation when we did find him. We were jumping up and down and high-fiving each other and giving each other hugs. It was remarkable."

John Knight and Bruce Davis also volunteered.

Davis told co-anchor Hannah Storm he saw Hawkins in the hospital Tuesday night: "It was tremendous. What a heartwarming thing it was to see Brennan looking into the eyes of his mother, holding her hand and his father with his arm around him at the head of his bed. It was just overwhelming and heart-wrenching to see that."

Knight said he "was there when we were able to announce to the searchers that we had found Brennan. You just heard wailing and cheers of joy, just an outburst of emotion. Just four days of searching all culminated in that moment. The volunteers were just so grateful that he'd been found."