Breadson John, 8, was found safe in Missouri eight months after he disappeared from Vancouver, Washington.
On Tuesday, the Seattle office of the FBI confirmed John’s whereabouts on Feb. 17. This followed the release of an FBI missing person poster in January after authorities learned John had been taken to Jasper County, Missouri, in August.
The boy is currently in the care of the Missouri Department of Human Services, local NBC affiliate KGW reported Tuesday.
“Breadson’s recovery would not have been possible without the combined efforts of the Vancouver Police Department, the Kansas City FBI and the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office,” said Richard A. Collodi, special agent in charge of the Seattle FBI office. obtained from KGW. “We are relieved by this achievement and how quickly we were able to resolve it.”
Staff from Washington’s Department of Child Protective Services are also on their way to Kansas City to pick up John and return him to his home state, KGW reported.
According to the FBI, John was first reported missing after a health check was conducted at his home in June following concerns from community members in Vancouver, Wash.
Now that he has been located, it is unclear whether he will return to his last known guardians, his grandparents, against whom custodial interference charges were filed in December.
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The Vancouver Police Department said in a statement prior to John’s discovery that the family had not provided help with the investigation.
“Since June 2022, Vancouver Police detectives have attempted to contact multiple family members to determine if Breadson is with the family or truly missing,” police said. “To date, family members who have been contacted have not provided investigators with information regarding Breadson’s whereabouts and he has not been located.”
Authorities involved in John’s search did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for information.
