‘Just a miracle:’ Family of lost 3-year-old thankful for community response

BEAVER, Utah — A Taylorsville family went to Beaver to create memories but didn’t expect the trip to be so eventful.

Sondra and Xavier Wilson’s 3-year-old son, Maurice, also known as Momo, got lost when the family was doing some rockhounding west of Milford Friday night when he walked off.

“I’m like, Xavier, have you seen me? And he’s like, no, I haven’t,” Sondra said.

No parent should ever have these thoughts, but Xavier and Sondra did at that moment.

“(Momo) should be able to hear me, and so I was like, ‘he has fallen and broken his neck, and he is dead already,'” Sondra recalls. “Like that’s what happened. And I was like, ‘that’s probably the truth, but I have to hope that it’s not.'”

Hundreds of people, including the Beaver County Search and Rescue team, searched all night for him.

This is Momo. He's 3-yrs-old and wants everyone to know he's okay after being lost west of Milford in Beaver County overnight by himself in freezing temperatures. He was found this morning. His parents spoke exclusively to me about it. @KSL5TV in our 4:30 and 5:00 newscasts. pic.twitter.com/mnZhjUI880

— Alex Cabrero (@KSL_AlexCabrero) October 29, 2022

Just before 9 a.m., after 15 hours, someone yelled they had found him. Xavier feared the worst until he saw him.

“(Momo) had his hands and legs, and he was sitting there, and he could talk a little bit, and they told me he was doing pretty good,” Xavier said.

Momo was crying and a little scared but speaking. Beaver County Sheriff Cameron Noel said it doesn’t seem like Momo ever slept, which may have helped him.

“We’ve never done like, ‘if you get lost out in the wilderness, what do you do?'” Sondra said. “And I mean, he’s 3.”

This is Momo's mother and father. They're beyond relieved their son was found alive and he's doing okay. Here is mom's response when I asked her how her 3-year-old was doing after spending 15 hours in the freezing wilderness alone. We're doing a full story @KSL5TV at 5:00. #ksltv pic.twitter.com/zCrJNE73BU

— Alex Cabrero (@KSL_AlexCabrero) October 29, 2022

Momo was taken to a nearby hospital and checked out. Doctors say no frostbite, hypothermia or anything wrong at all.

“They took him to the hospital and warmed him up and hydrated him, and as soon as he got some fluid in him, he was just smiling and chatting and his normal self,” Sondra said. “It was a God. Just a miracle.”

Momo is alive, back in his mother’s arms, and the family can’t thank all those who helped enough.

“The worst nightmare of your life, and this whole community comes out for you.”