Authorities searching for a 4-year-old Florida boy who disappeared on New Year’s Eve near an Alabama home said Friday that days of intensive efforts across Walker County had entered a critical stage.Johnathan Everett Boley, affectionately called “John John,” was the subject of a multi-day search that drew local, state, and federal agencies as well as hundreds of volunteers, authorities said. What followed was a rapid response that began within minutes of Boley’s reported disappearance.
How the Search Began

Boley was last seen around 11:30 a.m. on New Year’s Eve near the 7000 block of Highway 195, between the Manchester and Thach communities in north Walker County, according to the Walker County Sheriff’s Office.Deputies received a call reporting a missing child at approximately 12:28 p.m. that day. Investigators later learned that Boley had been outside playing with his brother near a fence line when he followed a black Labrador named Buck across it.”The indications were that (Johnathan) and his brother were outside playing around the fence line, with a dog,” Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith said during the search. “The brother said that the dog and his brother went across the fence line.”