Missing Boy Found by TV Reporter Covering His Disappearance
A Tampa Bay TV reporter covering the disappearance of a 10-year-old boy last week found himself unexpectedly involved in the story when he spotted the missing kid Friday morning.
Paul Ezekiel Fagan was reported missing Thursday night, and Cameron Polom of WFTS was in Zeke's neighborhood to cover the story the next morning. While walking past the house with a camera crew just before 7 a.m., he noticed a child standing near a fence next door.
It was Zeke.
"I said, 'Have you been missing?' I said, 'Come here, buddy, and I just picked him up and I said would you mind if I lift you up?'" Polom said. "And I just said come with me, I just held his hand and walked him over to you guys. It's crazy," he told investigators.
WFTS cameras kept rolling as Zeke was reunited with his tearful grandmother and, later, with his father.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office had launched a full search for the 10-year-old, with dogs and helicopters, before Polom found him.
Zeke said he had left because "I just needed space from my little brother," and he ended up sleeping in the neighbor's bushes overnight. Deputies told WFTS they searched the area the night before, but he wasn't there at the time.
