Autistic Hiker Back with Family in W.Va.

Oct. 20, 2007 — -- Against all the odds, rescuers found an 18-year-old autistic man in West Virginia woods who had been missing for four days. Jacob Allen was hiking a little ahead of his parents in the Dolly Sods Wilderness last Sunday when they lost sight of him.

"I turned and made visual contact with Jacob up the slope ahead of me and started calling, telling him to wait," said his mother, Karen. "I saw him make the bend in the trail to the left, which was where the trail went, and at that point it was very defined with thick rhododendrons. So I told my husband, 'I've got to catch up with Jay. He's not really slowing down much.' So I got to that bend he was nowhere in sight."

They continued to hike upwards, frantically looking for their son and calling his name. But when his mother reached the top, she did not see him and panic set in.

Their deepest fears would have been justified for any child that went missing in the woods without food or water, but Jacob was up against other odds. Because of Jacob's autism, he couldn't call out for help, shout out his location or even answer if anyone called his name.

"The minute he gets out of your sight," Karen said, "it doesn't matter where you are because ... he doesn't respond verbally. He understands language, but if I call his name, he's not going to say, 'I'm here' or 'I need help,' and might not even make a sound."

Whitney Davis, an education graduate student and family friend of the Jacobses, was employed for several years to help train Jacob in various skills. She taught him how to communicate by stringing together pictures of various things and actions. She worked with Jacob and his family to create a book including pictures of actions and physical feelings that he could point to, to communicate with his family.

But none of that could help him out there in the hills and by Wednesday this week, there were hundreds of people organized in search parties. Davis, who had joined the search party, was stunned by how difficult the terrain was and how thick the brush was.