BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — Law enforcement released the 911 call that provides more insight into the moments a retired Marine found the 2-year-old who had been missing for nearly 24 hours.
Roy Link found Joshua "JJ" Rowland mid-Friday morning. He said the toddler held his arms up to him and immediately started calling for his mom. That moment was all captured on the 911 call.
"I found him," an unidentified caller told a dispatcher.
Without question, the dispatcher immediately asked where the caller was located. The search for Rowland began Thursday afternoon with more than 500 volunteers, in addition to the nearly 100 law enforcement officers, helping find the young boy who wandered away from his home.
In the background of the 911 call, you can hear the 2-year-old calling for his mother.
"I want mommy," Rowland said repeatedly. "I want mommy."
The caller told the dispatcher he was in a field south of Parrott Middle School and east of Cobb Road.
During an earlier interview, Link recounted the moments leading up to when he found Rowland. He said he crossed a field and came upon some woods, listening intently during his search. It was the sound of "whimpering" that caught his ear.
During the 911 call, the dispatcher asked the caller how Rowland was doing.
"He's good. He's doing good," the caller said. "He's alive, he's well. Giving him some water and he's wanting his mama."
Another voice in the background can be heard telling Rowland, "Good job, buddy" as he drank some water, the caller told the dispatcher.
In the next minute of the 911 call, you can hear a woman's voice squealing as she reunites with Rowland. At this time, the woman has not been identified.
"Oh my God," she repeated as she was out of breath with many sighs of comfort.
As the caller and about 15 other people waited for first responders to find them near the middle school, conversations about the 2-year-old being found were ongoing.
"Good job, buddy. Way to make it, way to make it," the caller said to Rowland. "Such a big guy you are."
He continued, "He's got some scratches, some scrapes and bruises, but, over 24 hours alone in the woods. Yeah, he did great...yeah, he did great."
At the end of the 911 call, Link, the volunteers, and Rowland met with first responders and the dispatcher relieved them from the call.
Link told reporters he served in the U.S. Marine Corps and worked more than 32 years with the Hernando County parks department as a supervisor. The toddler was presumed to be doing fine but was still taken to the hospital by his parents out of an abundance of caution.