By Carol Robinson

MIRACLE RESCUE: (ABOVE, RIGHT) 4-year-old Phenix Wilkerson was found safe in Alabama woods after 50 hours. Volunteer, (ABOVE, LEFT) Markeith Williams, discovered the non-verbal boy in good condition.

“She kept bugging me about it all day yesterday,’’ Williams said. “I told her I was going to church.”

He said when he woke Sunday morning, God had put it on his heart to go help find Phenix.

“I had my auntie, she’s an evangelist, pray for me before we left,’’ he said, “because I said it wasn’t going to work if she didn’t.”

The couple arrived at the command post where searchers were divided into groups.

“We were walking toward the pond, thinking he may have gotten close and gotten in the water,’’ Williams said. “It was hills and ditches and we searched ditches first.”

“As we got about two miles into the woods, everybody was veering off left and right,’’ he said.

“As I was getting closer to him, my heart started rushing so that’s how I knew I was getting close,’’ Williams said. “I knew it was God with me.”

Williams said he and others in group were walking near an area where searchers believed they had seen little footprints in field Saturday when Williams spotted him.

“He was laying probably 150 yards from the field,’’ Williams said.

“It was pretty far off,’’ he said. “I was going to holler, then I thought I’d get a little closer first.”

Williams said the leaves and sticks were crackling underneath his stop as he neared what he believed to be Phenix.

“He looked up,’’ Williams said. “When I got closer and saw the shirt, I was like, ‘There he is.’’

“Everybody just took off running to where he was,’’ Williams said.

Williams said Phenix was wearing the same clothes he was reported to be wearing Friday. He did not appear to be dirty.

“His feet and stuff were pretty clean,’’ Williams said.

He said one searcher put socks on Phenix’s feet, and another a coat. Phenix was given water as one of the searchers held his hand.

An officer eventually carried him to the top of the hill where Phenix was put in an ATV and taken to a waiting ambulance.

Phenix was found about 3:15 p.m. ALEA Sgt. Jeremy Burkett said Phenix was being medically evaluated.

Williams said he’s thankful he could be part of the happy ending.

“I was doing that,’’ he said, “because God sent me to do that.”

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