Greyhound with 5-Year Old Aboard Boy Leaves Mom in Behind in Roseburg

Police reunite a mother with 5-year old son after they became separated during a Greyhound Bus trip.

Courtesy: Wikimedia.org

(ROSEBURG, Ore.) - Oregon State Police say a 5-year old Vacaville, California boy spent some unexpected time with OSP troopers Friday after they found him at a Roseburg Greyhound bus station. The troopers say they located the boy after a report that the bus left without the boy's mother at the Grants Pass bus station.

OSP Sergeant Lynn Withers says that around 8:00 AM, an attempt to locate report was received from Josephine County 9-1-1 to OSP Southern Command Center dispatch to be on the look out for a Greyhound bus that had left the Grants Pass station without a 29-year old Vacaville, California mother whose 5-year old son was on the bus.

According to Withers, "The woman reported she had got off to use the bus station restroom as her son remained on the bus. When she returned, the bus was gone. The frantic woman got someone to call 9-1-1 to report she was separated."

One OSP trooper was on duty between Grants Pass and Roseburg but was unable to find the bus. At 9:18 AM, Withers arrived at the Greyhound bus station, shortly after the bus arrived; and found the boy quietly sitting on the bus. The boy accompanied the OSP Sergeant from the station to the OSP Roseburg Area Command office to wait until his mother could take another bus and be reunited with him.

While enroute to the OSP office, Sergeant Withers says he took the boy to a local Fred Meyer store and bought him some toys, then took the boy to a McDonald's restaurant to enjoy a meal together.

He says the boy played catch with some of the OSP troopers back at the OSP office, and was kept busy until he could be reunited with his mother at the Greyhound bus station at 12:25 PM. "The mother and boy were enroute to Salem to meet relatives and are waiting for the next bus to depart Roseburg and continue on their trip," Withers said.