BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — For nearly 24 hours, 2-year-old Joshua 'JJ' Rowland was missing and hundreds of people were out searching for him, including local volunteer Roy Link.
Link is a Marine Corps veteran who worked for the Hernando Parks Department for more than 30 years. On Friday, he said he followed his instincts back into a field where he found little JJ.
"I stopped and said a prayer and about 15 minutes later I found him," Link said.
It was a soft whimper about a hundred feet into thick brush that first caught Link's attention.
"When I heard him and I stepped in here and I said 'JJ?' and I stepped in here and I heard him get a little louder," Link said, recalling the moment he spotted the 2-year-old boy. "I saw all the curly hair, and I'm like, that's him!"
JJ was roughly a mile away from home, off a wide clearing near D.S. Parrot Middle School.
"I'm like, come on JJ, let's go! We're going home! He knew he wanted to go home, he was ready," Link said.
Link called 911, speaking the words so many had hoped to hear, "I found him."
On the 911 call, Link is heard telling dispatch that JJ was safe and eager to reunite with his family.
"He's good, he's good," Link said. "He's alive and well and we're getting him some water and he wants his momma."
As other excited volunteers began to gather around the boy, it was Link's calm energy that JJ clung to.
"A couple of people tried to take him out of my arms but he wasn't having it, ya know?" Link chuckled. "And I said, as long as he's hanging on to me, we're good."
JJ wouldn't let Link go even as he was checked at an ambulance, that is until his mother arrived.
"She came in and she could hardly control herself looking at her son… just hugging," Link said, recalling the emotional reunion.
The veteran said other family members began to gather around him, thanking him for finding the little boy.
"Grandparents and uncles and cousins were all coming up to me and it was just really humbling," said an emotional Link. "I think it would be for anybody really."
The toddler was taken to the hospital by his parents out of an abundance of caution. Link said he hopes to reunite with JJ in the near future.