The Elizabethton Police Department is investigating the death of a young child found in a creek near his home.
Around 10 a.m., officers of the EPD responded to 123 Reeser Road, No. 13, after receiving a report of a missing child. Reeser Road is located in the Happy Valley community just off of the Milligan Highway.
When officers arrived on the scene, they spoke with Tabatha Sword, who told officers she and her 3-year-old son Logan Sward were home alone at their residence.
“After she had been in the bathroom for several minutes, she discovered the door open to the residence and could not find the child in the residence,” EPD Chief Jason Shaw said. “She searched her residence and the area outside the residence and then called 911.”
EPD officers began to investigate and searched the area with assistance from deputies with the Carter County Sheriff’s Office, members of the Carter County Rescue Squad, and volunteers from the neighborhood.
At around 12:30 p.m. searchers found the child’s body in Buffalo Creek about 300 yards downstream from the Sword residence.
“The body of the child was taken for an autopsy,” Shaw said. “The investigation is continuing, and no further details will be available until the completion of the investigation.”