5-year-old Joshua Bender found alive

KNOB NOSTER, Missouri - Five year old Joshua Bender has been safely reunited with his family.

After almost 20 hours of searching, crews found him in a soybean field about 40 yards from his home, where he disappeared.

His father, Merlyn Bender, says when his son was found, he was cold and wet and had blue feet.

Joshua was taken to an area hospital for evaluation and for dehydration treatment.

Bender told NBC Action News, "We were imagining the worst but there he was."

Deputies say Joshua disappeared Saturday evening at about 6 o'clock in the NE 700 Road in Knob Noster.

His grandfather, Glenn Bender, says Joshua is very interested in what his siblings are doing. So, he was convinced Joshua followed one of his brothers and got lost along the way.

Hundreds of volunteers swept the soy bean field where Joshua was found once before. However, because he was laying down in the leaves, searchers overlooked him.

Joshua's grandfather suspected that, "What he'll do when he gets scared is he'll sit down on the spot, start crying and stick his thumb in his mouth. After a while, he'll go to sleep."

It appears that's what happened Saturday evening.

Joshua is largely non-verbal so the family knew if search crews called out to him, it was very likely that he wouldn't respond.

Johnson County, Missouri Sheriff Chuck Heiss says his biggest worry Saturday night was the drop in temperatures.

He explained, "Anytime you're dealing with a missing child, the sooner emergency responders can get involved, the better."

Neighbors, police and the National Guard searched the family's 240-acre farm.

The crew searched by horseback, air, ATV, foot and dog.

Merlyn Bender was overwhelmed by the amount of people who spent hours searching for his little boy. He attributes the safe rescue to them, "The technology, yea, but the people that found him, just the raw search. The search and rescue."

After this scare, Bender says he'll keep a closer eye on Joshua. He and his wife are considering a transmitter device for Joshua.

After this, no price is too expensive to keep Joshua close.

Beth Vaughn was on location and following the search effort. Follow her on Twitter @BethVaughnKSHB