5-Year-Old Lost Chasing Grasshoppers Turns Up Dead

The search for a missing 5-year-old boy in Arizona has come to a tragic end. The Coconino County Sheriff's Office has confirmed on Facebook that the body of Jerold Joseph Williams was found last night in Kaibab National Forest, where he disappeared while camping last Thursday. Police tell NBC News Jerold was at most 200 yards from a campsite the boy and his parents were sharing with a 20-strong group of friends and relatives when he escaped his mother's sight. A previous report from ABC15 suggests his mother was with him at the time, and that he vanished from her view as he started to chase grasshoppers.

More than 500 volunteers searched the rugged terrain for the missing boy over a five-day span alongside military helicopters carrying night vision equipment and crews with dogs and ATVs, reports ABC15. The AP describes volunteers trudging shoulder-to-shoulder through thick vegetation in the pouring rain yesterday in search of Jerold, whose body was found by a member of the search team. A sheriff's rep last night said a positive ID would need to be made using dental records and fingerprints. A cause of death has not been released; officials previously said there was no indication of foul play. (More missing child stories.)