Lake County sheriff's K9 Loki helps find missing boy in unincorporated Zion

A missing 12-year-old is safe after a Lake County sheriff's K9 helped deputies find him in a wooded area in unincorporated Zion on Monday night.

The child had been missing for more than four hours when the deputy and his K9, Loki, picked up a scent in thick brush.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office says deputies had already searched the home and surrounding area, even bringing in a drone, but it was K9 Loki who alerted deputies to someone underneath a thick bush.

The search started after the child was reported missing from home in unincorporated Zion.

"We get a call like that, it's all hands on deck, you know, try to get every resource we can out here to try and locate the kid safely," said deputy Kevin Lowe.

The search eventually moved into this heavily wooded area. That's when deputy Lowe and his partner, K9 Loki, joined the search.

"Initially, we had a shoe that belonged to the child, so he picked up the scent of the shoe and worked off that," he said.

The sheriff's office says Loki darted towards this large bush not far from the house.

"He did all the work," Lowe said. "I just kind of followed him straight to that child where he was hiding amidst some pretty thick brush. He started barking, so I knew right away he had to be hidden somewhere in there, somewhere."

The team found the missing child, who was safely reunited with his family. The sheriff's office says this kind of search is just one part of what its K9 teams do.

"You can't replicate a K9's nose," Lowe said. "You could have all of this technology, but you can't replicate that and what they're capable of doing."

In 2025, the agency says its ten K9 teams were deployed 485 times. Those teams helped find 35 people, including endangered missing people and criminal suspects and contributed to 90 arrests. The sheriff's office also says its K9 teams spent nearly 2,500 hours training last year

"We have some incredible K9s at Lake County. I'm lucky to be a part of the unit. The results shows for it," Lowe said.

Deputy Lowe and Loki are part of ten K9 teams with the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

While the department released those 2025 numbers to highlight the unit's work, last week's search is a very specific example of what those teams can do — helping deputies cover difficult terrain and, in this case, locate a missing child.